Who's This White Kid?
by Flameraiser
Summary: Harry wakes up in a strange jungle seemingly de-aged and without his wand. He has to figure out how to live in this whole new environment that he has seemingly warped to. And what the hell is a Wakanda? First few chapters will be about entry into the world and not much else. Obviously takes place in the Avengers universe. Will primarily use the MCU as a reference.
1. Chapter 1

"What the fuck?"

Harry looked down at his body. His hands look extremely small. In fact, his hands looked like a child's hands. Upon further investigation, he discovered the rest of his body was also suffering from this optical phenomenon. It would also appear that he was not wearing any clothes, which was a tad concerning.

He reached his hand back and scratched his head in thought. Was this a spell, or perhaps a result of some magical experiment gone wrong? He would almost believe this was some sort of prank from George if he hadn't been on a separate continent from the man for several years now.

As he looked, he finally processed that he seemed to be in some type of jungle. This was not so worrying, he had been in several jungles over the last decade since his departure from Britain. What was concerning was the fact that he didn't recognize this one. If he were a betting man, he might say Africa but he wasn't exactly an expert on herbology and the foliage around him wasn't helping.

Harry's eyes widened as they snapped to his right arm. Seeing it bare confirmed his suspicions, the elder wand was gone.

He immediately got to his knees as he started to move around the scattered leaves and vines to try and see if it was around him. After a few moments he started to panic. The Elder Wand being stolen was a major deal, not necessarily for what it could do against him since he was rather unkillable these days but to others for sure.

"Shit, fuck, fuck, shit, fucking shit, motherfucking shitty shit. Ok think Harry, what's the last thing you can remember?" He said out loud. He remembered yesterday rather well. He had been relaxing in small town in Montana if he was remembering his states correctly. He had gone out for a drink but had only been slightly buzzed when he went back to his motel. He fell asleep peacefully on his bed with no interruptions. There hadn't been a peep from his wards and he trusted his work immensely.

Despite not remembering anything, something must have happened as he was now in a four-year-old body with no goddamn clothes in the ass crack of nowhere! He thought as hard as he could about what happened while he slept.

He did remember having a rather strange dream about a strange red light reaching out to him but nothing other than that. Could that be a clue perhaps? Did someone manage to get through his wards and cast a spell on him. That was a scary thought. Dumbledore, the old bastard, himself wouldn't have been able to get past what he had put down for protection last night, especially not silently.

A light ray from the sun hit his eyes causing him to shut them slightly to block it out. This brought him back to the present and reminded him that he was wasting light as he stood here thinking. He sighed and looked around. It was time to get on the move. He looked at a pile of leaves on the ground and waved his hand at him. He had some ability when it came to wandless magic, transfiguring some clothes shouldn't be a problem.

A moment passed and Harry frowned in annoyance. Nothing happened, the pile of leaves didn't so much as twitch. Harry took a deep breath and reached deep inside himself as he had trained himself to do and tried once more. Once more, nothing seemed to happen.

Harry opened his eyes and slowly put his arms down as he looked in shock at the pile of leaves. He looked down at his hands. His magic wasn't responding the way he wanted. It was frozen and unresponsive, almost like a… oh god. Was he actually a goddamn child? How was that even possible? Even aging potions couldn't pull something like this! Being able to not only deage a wizard's body but also his magic to such a state shouldn't be possible. Magical manipulation to that level shouldn't be possible.

Harry looked around the jungle with a new sense of caution. With no magic he would now have to navigate this jungle without food, water, or clothes. A morbid sense settled in his chest before took a few breathes to calm himself down.

'Ok, this is bad but let's just analyze this and figure out how to get out of this. Let's see. I know the sun rises in the east and sets in the west which means… this way is North." Harry thought as he turned his body to match his thoughts and stared in a direction, 'Great. I'll just head in this direction until I run into something. I have to hit some form of civilization at some point.'

With that, Harry steeled himself and started walking into the direction he believed was North.

The jungle was… not as terrible as it could have been he supposed. He walked for hours and didn't seem to run into a single predator which was good. He did occasionally see something swinging around in the trees which he assumed were monkeys though they were to high up to be sure.

Sadly, that's where the good things ended. Harry was not used to walking without shoes so his feet were taking a real beating from the jungle floor which had all sorts of sharp objects that loved to get stuck in his baby feet.

To add to the pain of his feet, it was extremely hot forcing him to sweat profusely. After a few hours of walking, Harry was already starting to get thirsty. He tried once more to get some handle on his magic to summon water but it was to no avail. He tried once more to use some magic to summon just a little water but his magic refused to respond to him properly. He growled in anger when he saw that but kept moving. If he was lucky he might be able to find some sort of stream to drink from. Even without control over it, his magic should still be strong enough to protect him from most sicknesses in unfiltered water.

Again, it would seem luck was not with him as he finished the day exhausted and without finding a single source of water. Now he was hungry as well and he had literally no idea how to hunt. He knew the concept of hunting and laying traps but that meant nothing out here in the actual wild. He briefly thought about trying to kill something but his size meant he wasn't likely to catch nor overpower anything that lived in these trees.

As night approached, he started looking for a place to sleep for the night. He sort of remembered something about how you weren't supposed to sleep on the ground in jungles though perhaps he was mistaken and was thinking of another eco system.

After an hour of searching, Harry finally found a suitably thick branched tree. He struggled to climb up It but did manage it with only a few dozen splinters gotten in the process. He sat on the branch with his back against the trunk and sighed. He was no stranger to sleeping in uncomfortable places, he had slept in a tiny cupboard for the first eleven years of his life even when he could almost literally not fit in it. Still, this probably took the cake.

After a few minutes, his exhaustion from the day took hold of him and allowed him to drift off into the land of dreams. Sadly, his dreams offered no release from the torture. He dreamt himself at a café ordering a nice cup of tea in Britain from a rather attractive waitress. He waited until it finally arrived before gratefully taking it. He brought the cup to his mouth with great anticipation until It touched his lips. As soon as it did the cup disappeared from his hand and the dream dissolved right through his fingers.

Harry groaned softly as he awoke, partly from the dream and partly from the aching pain in his back from the way he slept. God he would kill for even just a basic numbing charm right now. He opened his eyes and seemed to be looking at two orange gems surrounded by darkness. Harry processed that for a moment in his still waking brain before the confusion set in.

He blinked rapidly to get the sleep out of his eyes before trying to look in front of him again. He immediately regretted his decision to not stay willfully ignorant.

As it turned out, those orange gems were actually rather large eyes staring intently at him. Surrounding the eyes was a black body made of fur that stretched over what was clearly thick muscles. The creature was a large cat clearly judging from its small snout, long body, and almost equally long tail resting behind it.

Harry froze for a moment as his mind processed what the creature was and how it would affect Harry considering they were currently on the same tree branch and it was staring at him intently. Harry immediately panicked and jumped into action. Unfortunately, he was not quite used to this body as instead of swinging his leg and jumping down from the tree and landing in a controlled roll as he planned, his leg caught and he just fell belly first and hit the ground painfully.

Harry groaned in pain as he slowly rolled onto his back and looked back as he held his arm which he had injured from the six-foot drop. The panther hadn't moved from its position lounging in the tree though it was still looking at him.

Harry wasn't the smartest when it came to animals but he once owned one of what he was convinced was the most intelligent owls in the world. It was this experience that led him to understand that the look the panther was giving him was not the typical, 'I'm hungry and you're my next meal look,' but more of a, 'Are you messed up in the head?' sort of look.

"Fucking hell, you scared the shit out of me you big ass cat. I thought you were trying to eat me." Harry said to the panther feeling in less danger than when he woke up. The panther just looked back at him with a small twitch of its tail and a deadpan look that clearly spoke of how unimpressed it was with Harry. Harry sighed as he realized how quick he fell into talking with the creature.

He and Hedwig could once hold entire conversations between each other despite not being able to speak anything close to a similar language. Even after her death he sometimes he would get caught talking to animals as if they could understand him. It was embarrassing to say the least.

He peered back up at the panther for a moment. As he looked at him the panther looked right back at him unmoving and looking relaxed as ever, as if he hadn't just scared a human enough to fall out of a tree. Harry was sure he could see something else in those eyes, an intelligence that contrasted with it's cat body.

"I don't suppose you can understand me, can you?" Harry asked after a moment. The panther did nothing but its tail twitched once more when presented with the question. Harry waited but it did nothing else. He still wasn't quite sure if it could or not and was just purposefully trying to piss him off.

"Alright then… You have any idea where I could find some water? I'm not exactly sure how long I can last without it but I'm probably approaching the limit considering it's still hot out and I am no longer sweating." Harry asked as he looked over himself. He was downplaying it when in truth his insides felt like there were trying to consume themselves. It was extremely painful but he hadn't broken under hours of the Cruciatus and even as a child he wouldn't let this break him.

The panther said nothing in response not that he really expected it too. Actually, he still wasn't quite sure what he was expecting to happen from this situation. He might be going slightly crazy from the lack of water. Could a crazy person recognize that they were going crazy? Bellatrix had been able to recognize her own insanity but she embraced it to the extreme.

He shivered as he realized he had just compared himself to possibly one of the worst people that had lived in the past century. So consumed in his thoughts, he didn't notice when the panther dropped down from the tree branch and started walking away. He didn't notice until he heard an audible growl which broke him from his thoughts immediately as he tensed.

He looked back up and finally noticed the panther, now a small distance away from him and looking back at him. It was giving him a slight snarl until their eyes met. Once it had Harry's attention, it turned its head back forward and continued to walk away. Harry stared at it walk away for a few moments before shrugging.

'No idea where I am going anyway.' Harry thought before setting out behind the big cat. He wasn't sure if the panther even realized he was following it. It must have, it's not like Harry was being quiet and he was much too weak to even attempt to be light footed.

Harry wasn't sure how long he was following but soon he could start to feel his own heartbeat. Along with that and his breath was starting to become uneven and rapid. The further they walked and the worse it got. Soon his vision was starting to get fuzzy that he almost ran into multiple trees. He grit his teeth and kept moving despite the pain and his body clearly showing signs of shutting down. There was a roaring that started in his ears that might have been his own blood but he couldn't be sure. Soon the world started to seem to get darker at the corner of his vision.

"If… if I die you better… you better eat me." Harry said out to his companion who he was now having trouble seeing in front of him. Damn this child body. A grown adult would have been able to go at least another day but he was stuck as something little better than a toddler. He wasn't actually sure if he would die or not. With the older body and the deathly hallows he had been unkillable. In this young form though, he had no idea what would happen. If he did die though, he hoped his new panther friend would at least get a meal out of it. He had no problem being part of the circle of life.

Harry wasn't sure when it happened but at some point, he must have fallen down to the floor as he now had a face full of leaves. Despite that, the next time he opened his blurry eyes, he was on something soft and moving. He used all the energy he could to look up to see what appeared to be the back of the panther which he was now riding on.

Harry couldn't help himself, he let out a delirious chuckle at the situation. He was riding a panther through the jungle to god knows where… or he was hallucinating and really just dying on the jungle floor somewhere.

"You should have just eaten me. Would have been easier on your back." Harry told the panther. He heard a rumble from its chest that he could easily believe to be agreement in his delirious state. With that he closed his eyes again.

Harry felt darkness once more. He briefly wondered if he would see his parents this time. He had spent years after the war coming to terms with the fact that he wouldn't be able to due to the hallows. If he got to see them again and Sirius too then this whole little forest fiasco would be worth it.

After his parents, his thoughts drifted to his friends. Ron and Hermione were still together as far as he knew. He had honestly thought they wouldn't last but they had both stuck it through even when times got tough. Harry had literally watched Ron's maturity kick in during that relationship. He had been happy for them but did admittedly feel like a third wheel. Ginny… well he would rather not think of Ginny right now.

He hoped he got to meet Dumbledore on the other side as well. He wanted to kick the man in the balls as hard as he could. Hearing the man, he had trusted from day one practically in the magical world had set him up had been tough. Granted he couldn't say he would have been able to come up with a better plan than the man but still. It was the principle that mattered to Harry, he hated being set up.

It was strange though. It suddenly was very cold all-around Harry. Not only that it felt like something was moving all around him upwards. Mixed with all that, there was this weird spec in the middle of his vision that seemed to get brighter and brighter, or maybe closer? Hmm, was this death?

Harry gasped as he sat up straight with more energy than he had been able to in hours. He looked around him in confusion before his eyes shot open in clarity. Water, everywhere, lots of it!

Harry dove his head back under and started chugging. He chugged and enjoyed the cold feeling spreading into his chest and then through the rest of his body. It felt like heaven! After a few moments, Harry's mental functions began to boot up enough for him to remember that when someone was extremely dehydrated you couldn't keep letting them chug down water or they would drown themselves. So, with great reluctance, he pulled his face away from the water with a great gasp. He let oxygen reenter his lungs as he finally looked around. He was in a river near the bank but deep enough that he could submerge himself if he sat down.

At the bank sat a familiar figure. His panther companion sat back on its hindlegs as it seemed to watch him with what looked like a bored expression. Its tail moved slightly back and forth behind it for some reason.

Harry dragged himself through the water and over to the panther. He pulled himself to bank with great energy before finally pulling himself next to the giant cat. The cat looked to its right and down at him. Harry might have imagined it but the looked seemed to ask 'Satisfied?'

"I am, thanks to you. Thank you. I suppose that means I was right and you are intelligent after all." Harry told it. It gave him a look that was clearly, 'Obviously you idiot.'

"You're quite mean to the person you put so much effort into rescuing… Did I ask you to eat me earlier?" Harry asked. His memory for the past few hours was a blur. If a panther could smirk then this one definitely was. It didn't answer the question though, it did however get down on all legs so it could lay down.

"I suppose your tired from carrying my weak ass around for the past few hours. Looks like it's already getting dark. Think we should find shelter soon? I should probably also find something to eat. I'm not very good at hunting. Think you could give me some tips?" Harry asked.

Again, the panther didn't say anything, instead, it got to its feet and started wading through the river current. Harry wondered if he should get up and follow but the panther stopped and seemed to freeze. Harry looked on in confusion before the panther buried its head in the water before rapidly bringing it back up. In it's jaws was something metallic looking and flapping uncontrollably. With that, the panther waded back out of the water and up to him. With a single motion it spat the object out of it's mouth and into Harry's lap.

Harry looked down at his lap and stared at the now dead fish. He looked back at the panther that was now back to laying down as if nothing happened.

"You show off." Harry finally said as a small smile grew on his face. The panther said nothing but it almost looked as if it preened at his words. He looked back down at the fish and almost drooled as he looked at it. He hadn't been this hungry in years. He didn't know how to make a fire which meant he would have to eat it raw. At this point though, he was just glad to have something in his mouth that he could swallow.

He bit into the fish and tasted the flavor of its guts. It didn't taste as bad as he thought it would which shouldn't be that surprising. Plenty of people around the world had eaten raw forms of fish. Of course, even with his magic not working, he should still be okay from getting any sickness from eating the raw fish. He bit into it again and again. He would sometimes have to spit out the thin bones but didn't let that stop him. Soon enough, the fish was mostly picked clean and he looked back at his companion who was now laying on its side.

"So… are you a boy panther or a girl panther?" Harry asked the creature. The panther lifted its head and eyed him like, 'Really?'

"I'm just curious is all. I don't want to keep referring to you as it in my head." Harry explained as he tried to look in between its legs to get an idea. After a moment, Harry found what he was looking for, sadly the now identified she seemed to notice what he had been doing and got up with a threatening growl. Harry froze a little at that. She got on her hindlegs again and glared at him before then looking down at his waist. Harry stared at her in confusion before following her gaze. Suddenly he felt very embarrassed.

"Ack! Stop, stop, stop! Okay, I get the point. No more staring at each other's junk, message received." Harry yelled as he moved to cover his crotch suddenly reminded of his nakedness. Suddenly she was back to looking smug. She then moved on to give him a patronizing look. Harry didn't have to guess what that look was about.

"Leave me alone. I'm apparently four so I'm going to have four-year-old equipment. Trust me, one day I will have no problem finding a mate and you'll know how impressive I am as a human… god I'm bragging to a panther, a female panther, on how impressive my junk will one day be. Somethings probably wrong with me." Harry trailed off. The panther seemed to almost nod in agreement as it looked back out at the river. Harry joined her in silence for a few moments before breaking it.

"You'll need a name. Any ideas?" Harry asked her. The panther made what Harry assumed was a snort but gave no other sign it was listening.

"What if I just list a few and you can tell me if you like one?" Harry asked her. The panther made no movement in response.

"I shall take your silence as a yes." Harry told her boldly before thinking of some names.

"Hmm, I'm not good at thinking of African names I am afraid. How about… Amara?" he asked her. She growled at that so, Harry took it as a no.

"Don't like that one then… Hmmm, how about Zana? No, I don't think that quite fits either… Oh how about Nala? She's my favorite character from the Lion King. Granted she was a lion but still. She was this bad ass cat and you're a bad ass cat so what do you think. I think it fits rather well." Harry told her. The panther opened and eye and looked at him with a bored expression before closing it again. Harry smiled.

"I'll take that as a yes. Nala it is then. So Nala, I am completely and utterly lost so you'll have to lead the way from now on. I would prefer to get to civilization if possible but I am not sure how exactly to get there. Not exactly sure how far panthers normally stray from their territory but do you think you can help me?" Harry questioned. He couldn't exactly take care for himself out here so staying near Nala was kind of vital so if she couldn't help, he might just be screwed.

Nala said nothing and after a moment realized the large cat was actually snoring softly. He sighed before taking a deep breath. He was about to fall asleep when he heard something in the brush behind him. He admittedly made a beeline to Nala's side and nervously looked around. He couldn't see anything but didn't mean nothing was there. He looked back at Nala and saw her awake again and looking at him amusement. Harry's eyes narrowed.

"I'm small and helpless, give me a break already." Harry told her in a whisper though if the ear twitch was any indication then she definitely heard him. Harry idly realized this is the first time he had willingly been so close to Nala. He knew she carried him on her back to the river somehow but he had been a step from death then so that didn't count.

Without really thinking about it, Harry raised and slowly moved it to her side. He finally pressed it into her soft fur. He always imagined animals in the wild had much more of a coarse feel to the fur but Nala's felt as if she had been professionally groomed. He looked to her head to see if she minded him touching her fur but her eyes were closed so he took that to mean she didn't. He started rubbing her side in the same way he might with a house cat just to see if she liked it. Soon a noise emitted from her throat. Harry almost stopped thinking it was a growl but quickly realized that she was actually purring but it sounded deeper due to her size.

He laid his head against her side and stroked her side until he drifted off once more to the land of dreams, uncertain what was next for him but certain that he at least had a friend with him to face it. Harry once fought a war with only two friends at his side. Imagine what he could accomplish with a panther.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry stood in a tree looking down at his prey. It was a warthog. If he managed to put his makeshift spear through it then it would be dinner. If he didn't, then Nala would knock him on the side of the head and tell him how much of an idiot he was without actually speaking.

He waited until the creature was right under the branch he was perched on. He held his breath and jumped down from the tree. His wooden spear came down and Harry aimed it for the creature's neck to hopefully kill it instantly. As Harry landed on it, he brought the creature down and heard a 'shlick' noise of his spear entering its body. As they both landed on the ground, Harry tucked into a roll and moved off the creature before spinning and looking back at it. He grinned at what he saw.

The spear had gone through exactly where he wanted to and the warthog laid on the ground unmoving. A moment later and a shadow fell from the tree and looked at him, 'About time.' It seemed to say. Harry just smiled.

"You're not going to make me feel bad this time. I got that perfect and you know it. You couldn't do it better yourself." Harry told the panther as it looked over his kill.

It had been two weeks since he had bonded with Nala. It was clear quite soon that they had a familiar bond. Harry hadn't had one since Hedwig and he must admit, that it felt rather good to get it back. He was actually glad to see the bond could still existed as it confirmed to him that he did actually still have his magic. He had always believed he did but he could not help the doubt that had been festering in the back of his mind at the thought that he may have been wrong. Nala actually reminded him of Hedwig in many. She could easily fall into a habit of mothering him and scolding him when he did something stupid but Nala herself was younger presence and seemed more like an older sister in Harry's mind.

Over the past couple of weeks, Nala had been teaching Harry multiple methods of survival in the jungle. He learned how to hunt and stalk from her. She also showed him how to find water by tracking other creatures to it.

Of course, there was some things she couldn't teach. Harry had to learn how to make a spear on his own which he really only did by sharpening a long stick with a sharp rock. Since he wasn't very strong, Nala had been teaching him how to drop down on opponents to take them down quickly. Nala herself preferred a chase but there was no way in hell Harry was going to be able to mimic that. Every time he would chase after her she would smirk at him in amusement for being so slow. It definitely grated on his nerves.

Harry also had to learnt how to make fire on his own. That actually didn't take as long as he thought to learn but it was still something valuable. Raw meat tended to give him stomach aches where cooked meat seemed to go down much easier. Nala couldn't care less what form her meat came in as long as she got to eat it.

The last thing Harry had learned how to do was make some makeshift clothes. Well that wasn't quite true. He didn't have a knife yet to skin animals so he just tied leaves together with a plant-based twine and formed a makeshift loincloth with it. It wasn't exactly durable but it helped keep his tic tac from the elements. His feet had eventually gotten used to the jungle floor so he hadn't even bothered with shoes.

Nala started biting into the warthog while Harry started to gather some wood so he could cook his portion. A few minutes later and he had a small fire going next to the warthog. Nala was still eating but took some time to rip off a huge chunk and gave it to Harry so he wouldn't have to cut it.

"Cheers." Harry said in thanks as he mounted the raw meat chunk on a stick and started cooking it over the fire. After what felt like an eternity, the meat gained the overcooked look Harry was accustomed to. He always over cooked his food in an attempt to get anything dangerous out of it. Didn't taste great but it was better than eating it raw. Harry looked over at his lounging companion who seemed to have stuffed herself.

"You're going to get fat if you keep overeating you know." Harry told her. Nala twisted her head to look at him with a glare. She then stretched one of her front paws out and smacked his arm with it. His small body meant that it actually hurt.

"Ow! You can hit me all you want you overgrown house cat but the truth isn't based on whether you like it or not." Harry shot back as he rubbed his arm. With those words, Nala fully got up and pounced on top of him.

"What the shit!" was all Harry managed to get out as he was brought to the ground. Nala then just laid down on top of him and refused to get up. Harry pushed her body to no avail. Harry estimated she was probably double his weight at least. Most of the weight she had actually gained in the last two weeks.

When Harry was younger, he had no idea about familiar bonds or how they worked as they were rather rare except among powerful wizards since the bond sapped some magic away from the wizard to improve his companion. It was probably how Hedwig became so intelligent over time.

With Nala, the first noticeable change was the size increase. She was probably double the size she had originally been when they met. She was probably the biggest panther alive or close to it. Sadly, she was also packed with muscle which meant she wasn't moving.

Harry pushed as hard as he could but Nala didn't seem to even notice as she started to calmly clean herself. Harry finally got tired and just gave up. He glared up at her as she continued to bathe herself.

"You're real mature you know that. You see something you don't like and you just sit your fat ass on it." Harry said to the panther. Nala didn't acknowledge his words she just kept licking herself clean for the day. Harry just laidback and looked up at the stars that had started to come out.

Over the last two weeks, Nala had been walking in a certain direction. Harry hadn't noticed until three days had passed. He was pretty sure normal panthers didn't stray this far from their territory. He wasn't quite sure where she was taking him but he trusted her so he kept following her.

Eventually, Nala got off of him and went back to laying on the ground. Harry groaned from the soreness of having a hundred-pound panther lay on him. He crawled over to her and laid his head against her side.

"Come on, you can't just lay your problems away. I mean it was just a joke, you know you're not fat right? You have more muscle on you than I have weight. Don't be so sensitive." Harry murmured as he closed his eyes and started drift to sleep with his companion next to the flickering flames.

He didn't have any dreams that night, just a peaceful darkness that enveloped his mind like a blanket. He didn't know how long he had slept either but he didn't wake until sun rays started shining in his face. He blinked a few times to clear the sleep out of his eyes before getting up and stretching. Nala was up as well and seemed to be chewing something, showing she had already been out hunting. Harry wasn't hungry so he grabbed his spear and got ready to move out. As soon as Nala finished eating they were off.

They weren't walking long before the trees started to become fewer and fewer. After an hour, they had finally reached the jungles edge. There was now what appeared to be miles and miles of plains in front of him. He looked down to his side at Nala.

"Are the plains where we have been going for the past two weeks or are they simply another stop on the path to where we are going?" Harry asked. Nala simply gestured her head in front of her at the horizon. Harry looked in the direction but saw nothing. Perhaps she meant they were going to continue in that direction then.

"A stop then? Alright well continue to lead on then and I will follow." Harry told her. With that, they were back to walking. Harry had to admit that he was a little concerned about food and water out in the plains. In the jungle, there was food and water everywhere once you knew where to look. The plains had watering holes but the food was much more spread out and tended to run away rather quickly. He might have to let Nala take care of him again.

Harry shook away the thoughts. Nala hadn't failed him yet and he doubted she would now. They walked through the plains for hours that day with Harry being unsure of where they were going. Sometimes Nala would suddenly change directions and start walking in a large semi-circle. After the third or fourth time she did this, Harry finally noticed that there was usually something movie in the tall grass near where they had been about to walk through. Sometimes he would catch a glimpse enough to identify them as other big cats but they were usually too low to the ground.

Harry stuck closer to Nala any time he noticed she did that from then on. Nala seemed to find it amusing but Harry didn't share her thoughts on the matter.

They must have walked for miles before Harry finally saw something on the horizon. That they were walking too. A few more hours of walking and the image became close enough to identify mountains covered in jungle plants. They seemed to expand in both directions of the horizon and Nala was walking straight towards it. Was this their destination or just another stop on the way? It started to get dark out and they needed to hunt. Nala gestured to a lone tree in the plains and brought him to it. She tapped the ground with her front paw twice. Harry had learned that this meant she wanted him to say there.

Harry nodded and watched as she turned and walked away. She was probably going out to hunt them some food for the night. While she was gone, Harry got to work on gathering some of the fallen branches from the tree. He cleared a wide circle around the fire and used some dry grass to help get the fire started. With that he started rubbing a stick of wood on a chunk of wood. He moved his hands rapidly for a few moments until smoke started to arise. He blew on the smoke gently until he had a few burning embers. He then dumped those burning embers onto the fire pit he made. Soon it lit up and he had a full-fledged fire.

Harry sat down by and simply looked out to the horizon in boredom. Nala was a skilled hunter so she probably wouldn't be gone for long but that didn't stop him from being bored. He was also rather nervous. He had seen a lot of other big cats today and he somehow doubted they would be as friendly as Nala was.

After about half an hour, Nala finally came back dragging with her the carcass of an antelope. Harry raised an eyebrow at seeing her dragging the whole carcass behind her. She dropped it to the floor and immediately started biting into it. Once opened, she tore off several pieces and, once again, gave it to him. While gratefully taking them, Harry suddenly realized that the behavior between the two of them would suggest that Harry was Nala's pet. What a weird thought. He shrugged his shoulders though and kept on cooking his part of the meal. Technically, he kind of was her pet since he was almost totally reliant on her for survival.

He started chowing down once the meat was cooked and sat next to Nala. He watched the sunset and he had to admit, it was one of the most beautiful he had ever seen. He hadn't looked at sunsets on purpose in years. It had never really been interested in it to be honest. He knew others who loved looking at sunsets but he never really saw the appeal.

Now though, as he looked at the sun while it dipped slowly beyond the horizon, he could see why others enjoyed it so much. It was so beautiful to look at. One of the few things he could actually enjoy. He didn't feel the need to think about if he was going to survive until next week or wonder if a lion or tiger was going to creep up on him while he was asleep. It was just peaceful.

"It's pretty isn't it. Well I guess you're probably used to it. You've lived here all your life. Must've been nice… except the whole 'every day is a test of survival' thing you have going on." Harry told her. Nala just made a noise in her throat but not a true response. Harry smiled anyways.

"I'm going to have to figure out what to do with you if I ever get out of here. I have some big properties that you could probably live on all around the world. Or I suppose we could come back here and make a little area just for us. The view is pretty nice. It would be much nicer here if I didn't have to struggle to keep myself alive." Harry said to Nala. Again, his companion said nothing and Harry was almost sure she had fell asleep.

He knew it wasn't easy for her to switch her sleeping habits from day to night. He went up to her and gave her some petting and combed her fur with his fingers try and show his appreciation. Asleep or not, Nala loved it and would always purr for his efforts. After ten minutes, Harry fell asleep against her side as he usually did and drifted off into darkness.

The next morning, Nala led him to a water hole so he could get his fill of water again. There seemed to be antelope there as well but they didn't bother with them and didn't even concern themselves with Nala. Harry thought it strange but perhaps they knew how to tell when a beast was hunting them and when it was minding its own business.

Harry drank lots of water as he probably wouldn't get to drink again until tomorrow. His body seemed to have adapted slightly to better store water in his time so far in the jungle. He wasn't sure if it was magic or simple biology, either way he was grateful. It was the only way they were able to travel so far without having to worry about water.

Nala clearly knew where they were and had an idea of where they were going. She never failed to find them water when he absolutely needed it in the last two weeks. She must have had the entire area mapped out in her head.

Harry soon finished drinking and turned to Nala. She was done quicker than he was and had waited patiently for him. He nodded at her to signal he was done and she immediately turned and started walking. Harry soon followed right behind her as they started heading to the mountains. They would probably make it there in the late afternoon

The rest of the day was dull. Nala just trotted along easily and Harry walked next to her always keeping an eye out for trouble. It's not like it would matter of course. Almost all Nala's senses were better than his so she would probably know of any danger long before he did.

Africa had so far been rather peaceful to Harry. Nothing had really attacked him and food was easy to get once you learned how or had a panther teach you. Of course, he had no idea if the ease came simply from being around Nala. She was a powerful predator especially for a panther and most must've thought twice before coming near her and, by proxy, him.

The only thing was the bugs. Nala could do nothing to help him with bugs that loved to feed on his flesh. It had him cursing to hell whoever forced him into this devolved state. He couldn't count how many times he simply wanted to light the very air around him into a blazing inferno just to get rid of these damn bugs.

Nala found it amusing to say the least but that might be because the bugs didn't seem to bother with her. Harry just growled and ignored them but made a mental note to one day kill all bugs when he got his magic back.

The long trek through the plains soon came to an end as the approached a more mountainous region covered in a jungle canopy. Harry looked at it with suspicion, he couldn't help but get a small shiver up his spine and an ominous feeling as he looked at the jungle. He looked at Nala who was looking back at him.

"You sure this is the way?" Harry asked cautiously. Nala gave him a look that seemed to say, 'You doubt my genius?'

"Alright, alright. I was just checking. I suppose we should get started to finding a place to sleep and dinner. Shall I help or would you like to solo hunt again?" Harry asked Nala. She walked over into the trees with no answer and Harry followed. The sun had already set past one of the mountain tops which meant it would get dark down here fast.

Just like the night before, Nala tapped the ground twice to indicate that Harry was to stay while she went out and hunted by herself. Harry nodded and set to work. He didn't get far when he heard a loud rumbling noise. He looked up and saw gray starting to cover the sky. He grimaced. It was going to rain so there would be no point to starting a fire. He started to look around to find a place up in the trees where they would be able to get the most cover.

It wasn't long before the rain started coming down, Luckily, Harry had been able to tie several leaves together of trees that were close to each other as a makeshift roof and it seemed to be able to keep him dry for the most part. He was sure Nala would be pleased to have a place to dry off when she returned.

Speaking of her return, Nala still wasn't back yet. It had already been an hour and a half and she still had not found anything. It was strange. She was an excellent hunter and had never usually had any problems finding food.

Harry looked around the forest and the foreboding feeling he had felt earlier had returned. Nala was taking too long, if she didn't return in another half an hour he would journey after her. He had seen the direction she had gone and although the tracks would be gone, the closer he got to Nala, the stronger their bond should feel.

Thirty minutes came and went and Harry was really starting to get worried as he stood up, grabbed his spear, and started out in the pouring rain to look for his companion. He tried to use their bond as a compass and it sort of worked but she seemed farther than he originally thought. That, or she was moving away at a similar speed that he was moving to her.

The rain blocked his vision especially at night and made him feel like he was freezing but he pressed on anyway. He was starting to get close despite the foliage slowing him down, he could feel it.

Sadly, the closer he got the more the bond seemed to be expressing itself to him. He could feel panic and pain coming through it which caused him to panic and start moving faster. Their bond was still fairly new so things like emotions coming through it shouldn't be happening so soon. The fact that they were was a sign of duress.

Harry was now running towards Nala as fast as he could. His progress kept getting interrupted by the fact that he kept tripping on branches and other things as he couldn't see on the ground. God, he hated being small and having no access to magic.

Ten minutes of running and he finally came to a spacing in the trees to see Nala standing in what was clearly a defensive stance and growling into the trees. Harry looked but could see nothing through the rain and darkness but something was obviously there. He stayed back for a moment and readied his spear. To jump in to help. For a moment, nothing happened, the only sound was the rain pouring down and slamming into the ground.

A crack of thunder and all hell broke loose. A black shadow leapt from the darkness and right at Nala. Harry looked on in shock as his eyes identified the assailant. It was another black panther. It was smaller than Nala though and even seemed slimmer. Did she injure herself before running into this beast, why did it cause her such trouble?

Nala was fast and immediately roared and slammed her paw hard into his head before leaping down onto its downed form. It was at this moment, Harry understood why she was having trouble. Just as she moved to bite into the other panther's neck, another shadow sprung from behind her and landed on her back. There were two black panthers and both were attacking her. Harry felt her pain through the bond and even if he didn't, her roar as the one on top of her bit down on the back of her neck was enough of clarification.

Harry couldn't stand still anymore, he charged with his spear straight into the pile fully knowing he probably wasn't going to get out of this without a few scars. He approached and slammed his spear straight into the side of the one biting into Nala. He didn't have the momentum of dropping down and the limited muscle that his child-like arms had were working on overdrive to get this sharpened stick as deep as he could.

The panther let go of Nala and leapt off her in pain with a pained roar. With the panther no longer on her back and biting her, Nala finally buried her teeth into the panther under her body's neck. She buried it deep to. The panther's esophagus most definitely was punctured. So, engrossed with watching Nala make the kill, he didn't notice the other panther creep along the edge of the clearing behind him.

Harry roared in pain as he felt a heavy pain rake across his side and tackle him from behind. He didn't even have time to process that pain fully when he experienced what felt like a bunch of tiny knives wrap around his shoulder and dig in as deep as it could. Harry screamed in pain again before gritting his teeth.

"Get off me you over grown carpet!" screamed as he started flailing wildly. That started to be a mistake as it just caused its teeth to tear through more and more flesh in shoulder. Harry looked up and watched Nala running full sprint at them. She pounced and Harry suddenly felt the other panthers mouth yanked off his shoulder which didn't exactly come out clean with how deep it was embedded.

Harry immediately gripped his shoulder and rolled onto his back. He pulled his hand back it was completely covered in blood. He tried to look down at his shoulder and saw blood pouring out of it. He then looked down and saw blood pouring out of three claw marks on his side. His vision was getting darker already. A shadow appeared over him and Harry saw Nala standing over him. He looked her over and saw red droplets falling off her stomach from a wound that she probably attained before he arrived. It looked deep.

He panicked, he was probably going to die to be honest. Blood was pouring out of him at an alarming rate and no matter how smart she was, Nala couldn't even bandage herself, much less him. If it wasn't raining, he may have tried to get up with the last of his strength to start a fire to cauterize the wounds to maybe delay long enough to find some way to heal or hopefully get wherever Nala was taking them.

Nala laid down and pressed her head softly against him. He raised his hand and pressed it against her head and ran his fingers through her fur. She was dying too.

"I'm sorry Nala. I'm so sorry. Had you never met me you probably wouldn't be dying right now. I should've never let the bond form between us. I should have convinced you to let me die on that jungle floor. I should have… god I'm so sorry." Harry said through the tears blurring his vision. This was like Hedwig all over again.

Most people never even got a familiar in their lifetime. Sometimes people would get one if they were lucky. He had gotten two and he was the cause of death for both of them

A soft rumbling came from Nala and she opened her eyes too look at him with her tired expression. Despite death approaching, he still saw fire in them. He still could hear the mental scolding she was giving over saying something so moronic. Something about undermining and not appreciating what she had made with her life.

Despite the tears still coming out, Harry smiled at her. He pressed his forehead against hers for what would probably be the last time.

"Despite the short time we knew each other, you were one of the few beings I would ever consider to be my family. I hope the feeling was mutual my overgrown house cat." Harry finished. A soft lick pressed against his face as his vision faded almost completely to black. Soon, his other senses joined his vision into oblivion. Was THIS death?

… It was emptier than he thought it would be.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry looked around. His previous vision which had been full of an empty blackness and the sensation of nothing was now being filled with beautiful scenery once more. He was back in the plains though something was wrong. For one, there was no sound at all. There was a slight soft wind blowing through the tall grass and the leaves of a nearby tree but no sounds of animals or insect.

The next thing he noticed was the sky. It looked to be an unnatural purple color mixed with shades of blue to create a captivating image that could not be mimicked anywhere else on Earth. Come to think of it, this was probably not Earth at all. In fact, he was pretty sure he was dead.

The last thing he noticed, which was ironic since it was huge and directly in front of him was the giant panther figure looking down at him. When he said giant too, he didn't mean Nala giant, he meant this panther was the size of a two-story house. Seeing that he finally noticed it, the giant panther spoke.

" _Harry Potter."_ The giant panther greeted. Harry noticed the voice spoke in his head and not out loud. He also noticed the panther was talking to him. Both things didn't match with anything logic told him.

"And… you are who?" Harry asked with reservation. He wasn't exactly trusting of panthers that names weren't Nala. This was definitely not her.

" _I am Bast."_ The Panther said. Harry took a moment to process that.

"Bast… as in the Egyptian goddess of cats?" Harry asked the big cat.

" _That is one of my titles. I have many. Here in Wakanda, I am Bast, the goddess of panthers."_ The now identified goddess said. Harry just looked at her.

"Let me guess… you were the reason I was in the body of an annoying child and the reason I randomly woke up in some random African jungle right?" Harry asked barely keeping the annoyance from his voice.

" _I was."_ Was all she said in response.

"Well damn, it must be nice being a powerful immortal being. Apparently, it somehow gives you the right to interfere and play with people's lives without their permission. If that's all, I would like to go back to being dead, thank you." Harry shot out with barely concealed venom. If there was one thing Harry hated, it was being played with and used.

" _I apologize if my actions offended you. I saw an opportunity through you and I could not pass it up. You are quite the powerful being and things are about to happen in this world that I wish you to be a part of."_ Bast said to him.

"No." was all Harry said in response. He had no desire to get caught up in a god's problems.

" _I am afraid it is too late. You will be part of them no matter what. Whether you choose to do something will be entirely up to you. I chose you because I saw someone who could do a lot of good yet who was also tired of his own existence. A person who wandered aimlessly over his world looking for a purpose that he had once had. It is my hope that you will find your purpose here as well as manage the situation I speak of. Killing two birds with one stone as you mortals say."_ The giant panther said to him.

"No, fuck you. Just let me die." Harry snapped back in anger. Was it too much to ask to do something on his own terms for once? Why did everyone feel the need to dictate how he lived his life. Even when this goddess phrased it like he would have a choice, he doubted he actually would. She was putting him in a situation where his morals would force him to act. She was definitely playing with him.

" _I have no control over life and death so I cannot grant you either. Besides, I believe one of my children would be rather upset if you died."_ Bast said down to him. Harry thought about that statement.

"Nala? She lives?" He asked with high anticipation. His last memory of life was holding her close as they both faded into oblivion.

" _She does, she watches over you as you recover even now. She would be most upset if you simply let yourself go."_ Bast told him. Harry grit his teeth at that. There it was, pushing him into a decision that his morals would make for him.

"I fucking hate you." Harry said before turning and walking away.

" _We will see each other again Harry Potter. I hope you find a purpose in this new world. Your new home."_ Was the last thing he heard before his vision faded once more into nothing.

This time, the darkness around him felt different than before. It seemed almost… less dark for some reason. Not only that but he could think and form thoughts again. One of the first things he thought was how much he felt like he ached in his torso. That didn't seem right, why was his torso hurting?

Of course, he remembered the panther attack but why was it hurting now? Didn't he not have a body anymore. No wait that wasn't right either. A panther, something about a giant panther. He got the feeling he didn't like the panther. That's right, Bast. Fucking Bast, a goddess was real and messing around with his life.

She had mentioned something about him recovering, didn't she? Where was he recovering though? Were they no longer in the jungle? Had somebody found their bodies as they lay dying?

It was at this point his hearing returned and almost immediately wished it hadn't. There was a high-pitched beeping noise going off every few seconds and a string of sounds that he didn't recognize along with it. When his brain finally booted up enough, he started to recognize the strange sounds as a language. It wasn't one he understood but then again, he only knew a few languages and none of the African ones.

He cracked an eye and immediately squashed it closed to block out the blinding light that came through it. He waited and opened it as slowly as possible to try and adjust to the light. With that, he opened the other eye and tried to look around and get a feel of his surroundings.

He was in a hospital clearly. The blinding white walls, smell of sterilization chemicals, and medical equipment around him was telling. That's where the normalcy ended though. Harry had been in a few muggle hospitals on occasion but they could not compare to the things he was seeing. There was a digital board with all sort of medical information on it as well as a diagram of a human body that he suspected was him. There were also all sorts of sensors showing different types of information about him but he could read none of it. He looked down to see he was laying on a giant bed. He had never seen a king-sized hospital bed before.

At the foot of his bed laid what looked like a huge black pillow which confused Harry. It was only when the pillow twitched did his brain finally catch up with his eyes.

"Nala." He said barely above a whisper. Immediately the curled-up ball of fur sprang up to its feet and looked at him. Harry smiled at seeing her alive.

"Hey girl. You look… alive." Harry said. Immediately the big cat pounced on him as carefully as a big cat has ever pounced on a human before, taking special care to clearly not actually land on him. His face was then assaulted by a wet tongue that licked him like he was an ice cream.

"Bleh! Oi, get off me you damn house cat, I'm still injured." Harry said still rather quietly as his voice was rough from disuse. Apparently, he was loud enough though as the talking he heard from the other side of one of his room's walls stopped and two African men and an African woman walked out. The two men wore rather dissimilar clothing. One was wearing what Harry imagined was a typical hospital gown while the other wore what looked like some form of African formal robes. The woman stood off to the formal looking mans side in a red garb that clearly marked her as some sort of warrior, well that and the big metal spear she was carrying.

The man in the hospital gown seemed to go over to the advanced looking digital board and look at something before saying something to the man dressed in black. The man nodded and made a motion of dismissal to the hospital worker. Harry said nothing as he watched him go. By then, Nala was laying on her stomach watching the two remaining figures wearily. The man smiled kindly at him before speaking.

"A lovely creature you have found. She has refused to leave your side since she awoke from her own healing. We actually had to move you to a bigger bed because she kept trying to hop on your old one and lay on top of you protectively." The man said with a deep accent and amusement clear in his voice.

"Yes well… we've had a rough few days. I thank you for taking care of my wounds and Nala's but I am afraid I do not have much to pay you back for the kindness." Harry said politely back. He was still in the body of a small child and would be expected to act like it to an extent.

"Do not worry child. We expect nothing for helping you but we do have some questions we would like to ask you if you feel up to it." The man said to him. Although he phrased it like a choice, Harry was smart enough to know it wasn't.

"Sure. What do you need to know?" Harry asked. He was already thinking of ways to hide who he was.

"Good. First, we would like to know how you ended up in the jungle alone in the first place. When we found you, it looked as if you had been there for a while." The man stated. Harry screwed up his face in a look of thought.

"I'm not really sure either to be honest. I have no memory of anything before two weeks ago. I woke up naked and confused on the forest floor. I know things that don't relate to myself personally but whenever I try to think of anything about my memories, all I can remember is a name, Hadrian." Harry told the man.

"No memory of anything?" the man seemed concerned and a little suspicious. Harry nodded.

"Nothing of myself. I mean I knew I was in some sort of jungle and that I should be wearing clothes so I still seem to have basic knowledge but nothing relating to me. I can't even remember how old I am." Harry said sadly to really sell it. The man's eyes softened.

"Well, how about we move on to a different topic. How is it you came across your friend here?" The man asked as he looked at Nala and she looked back.

"Nala? She found me. When I awoke, I started heading in a direction to look for food or water of some kind. I walked for a day and found nothing. When night came, I slept on a tree branch and when I awoke, she was laying on the same branch and was staring at me intently. Scared me so much I fell out of the tree and landed on my face. She didn't seem interested in attacking me so I started talking to her. I asked her if she could lead me to water since at that point I was parched. She jumped off the tree and started leading me to a river. At some point I even passed out and she carried me the rest of the way. After that, the rest is history." Harry said as he smiled at Nala who licked his face in response.

"A fantastic story. I have never seen a creature with such a connection to a human before. I suspect this to be a sign from Bast herself." The man said almost to himself. Harry said nothing but gave a look of confusion at the words. He would not under any circumstances reveal his relationship with Bast, especially considering he did not like her.

As the man seemed to be lost in thought, Harry took this time to observe him. He was quite handsome with short, thick, curly hair and a regal round face. He had a goatee with a patch of silver going down the middle.

The woman next to him was straight faced and looking forward. She was bald and her face seemed to scream, 'Don't mess with me'.

"Do you know of anyone who we can get in contact to send you to? Parents or guardians perhaps." The man asked. Harry just shook his head.

"Nothing I can remember." Harry said. The man nodded as if he expected this.

"Well, we will try to see if we can find some trace of you somewhere and see if we can contact somewhere for you. Until then you are welcome here." The man told him kindly. The woman seemed to stiffen at those words but said nothing. Harry could tell this was a controversial decision.

"Thank you, er… where exactly am I, if you don't mind me asking?" Harry asked the man.

"You are in Wakanda." The man said to him. Now, Harry was confused. He was pretty sure Bast had said that too but he knew of no African country called Wakanda.

"I'm sorry I don't really know where that is. I've never heard of a place called Wakanda before." Harry said hoping to not offend.

"That is alright, Wakanda is a small country in east Africa. Hmm, I have not introduced myself. My name is T'Chaka. I am the current king of Wakanda." The man introduced himself. Harry's eyes widened at that.

"Wow, didn't think I would warrant an appearance from such an important figure." Harry said in shock. King's didn't usually come to visit random people in the hospital. Something was up but he wasn't quite sure what it was.

"Yes, well these are strange circumstances. Wakanda is not known for having many guests or visitors, in fact, we've had a closed border policy ever since we have established ourselves as a country." The man explained. Okay that wasn't good news for him.

"Are you telling me I illegally crossed into your country when wandering though the wild?" Harry asked in disbelief. The now identified King smiled at his panic.

"Do not worry young one. You are not in trouble. While we work on seeing if we can find where you are from, you just focus on getting better." With that the man stood and gave him one last smile before leaving with the woman.

Harry watched them leaved before looking around. They were definitely monitoring his every move, he would need to make sure to say nothing that could get him in trouble or do something that would get him in trouble.

He looked to his shoulder and saw it covered in some sort of white cloth. He lifted the blankets on him and looked at his side to see it also covered in the same white cloth. He dropped it and looked up at Nala.

"Well, looks like we lived girl. How you doing? They patch you up right?" Harry asked as he scratched behind her ear. Nala made a purring noise and looked at him to put his mind at rest. Harry smiled.

"Good. Don't worry about me, soon I'll be up and about soon good as new. It's also nice to be wearing clothes again. I bet I'll even be able to get three meals a day. Speaking of meals, what are they feeding you? I hope it's tasty and not like kibbles and bits or something. You're a growing cat after all." Harry said as he looked over her to try and check where she was wounded. She had some scars but it looked like she had healed well. He was rather surprised she healed so well already. He must have been out for a while. Oh well, he was just glad she was okay.

 _T'Chaka POV:_

T'Chaka was sitting on his throne deep in thought. The cause of his thoughts was the little white child in one of the private medical wings. He had found nothing on the boy since he had arrived. He pulled out all the stops to find any hint of this child. Even fingerprints and his blood revealed nothing no matter how many government databases he checked through. He now had some men working to narrow their search to a boy named Hadrian but he already had a feeling he knew what the result would be.

Around him, his clan advisory council were arguing over said boy. Many wanted him to throw the boy out and let him figure his own way back home. Some wanted to have him leave but in a more helpful manner by finding possible family or place of origin and sending him there. They all, however, seemed in agreement that they wished him to be gone to not risk Wakanda. Because of this, he knew they would not like his decision.

"Silence." He said. Soon almost all noise in the room came to a stop. He looked around for a moment before speaking.

"I have come to a decision. After meeting the boy, myself and evaluating how he came to be in our land, it is my decision that if his home cannot be found, I will offer him a place here in Wakanda." T'Chaka said. Immediately the whole room was yelling and it was all directed at him.

"SILENCE!" T'Chaka yelled and the council seemed to remember that he was the king here.

"The boy was led here by a panther. A panther unlike any I have ever seen. It is the biggest and most intelligent panther I have ever witnessed. This is clearly a sign from Bast and I will not ignore it. She has led the boy here for a reason and until I know why, he will have a place here." T'Chaka said to them. It was at this point the council all looked like they were sucking on lemons. Clearly, they still wanted to say something about the matter but bringing up Bast into his decision had them moving carefully on what he said next.

"And how do you expect him to stay here? Who do you think would be willing to take care of him, or do you mean to force him on someone, my king?" T'Chaka looked at his general and confidant Amuya. She had been against even bringing the boy to the medical facilities. She had advised to send him to one of their neighbors and let the boy be their problem. T'Chaka had refused though once he had seen the severity of the boys injuries.

"I will force him on no one. He can stay here with me and my family and I will provide for him." T'Chaka said. The river clan representative spoke next.

"My king, is it your intention to make this boy a citizen of Wakanda?" The man asked him. At this, the entire council looked intently at him.

"For now,… he will be considered my personal guest. That is the last we will speak of this today." T'Chaka said as he stood up to indicate the meeting was over. The rest of the council stood and bowed to him before slowly exiting the room. All that remained was him and Amuya.

"I know you are not happy with this decision, but I truly believe that this is a sign from the goddess. I fear if we turn this boy loose, we will one day regret it." T'Chaka said to her.

"You are the king. It is your decision to make." Amuya said to him. T'Chaka made an annoyed click in the back of his throat.

"There you go with that tone again. Well, I suppose I should go inform the queen of the arrangements I have made, T'Challa as well." T'Chaka said. He hoped his son would be able to get along with this boy and perhaps befriend him.

 _Harry's POV:_

If Harry's vision was not betraying him, there was a small child peaking at him from the doorway of his room. He blinked to get the sleep out of his eyes before looking again. Yep, there was definitely a small boy peeking at him from behind the door frame. He looked rather young and was probably near the same age as Harry himself now was. He gave a smile and a small wave at the child and that seemed to be the only encourage the boy needed to walk into the room.

The boy seemed to be staring at Nala intently with a look of wonderment. Harry smiled at the look the boy was sporting. He looked at Nala and gave her a nudge.

"Nala, looks like you have an admirer. Why don't you say hello?" Harry asked with amusement. Nala looked at the child and yawned in his direction which sounded almost like a quiet roar due to how big she was. The boy took a step back in fright before regaining his courage and coming up to the bed and looking at Nala. He brought his hand up slowly and reached for her. Nala just looked in amusement at the boy which in turn amused Harry. Eventually, the boy touched her fur and looked like Christmas had come early. Nala preened under the attention she was getting and Harry let out an audible chuckle at seeing it. The boy looked at him and a look of confusion was on his face.

"Who… you?" The boy asked. Clearly English wasn't his first language but Harry was grateful either way as he had no idea the native language here.

"Hadrian. You?" Harry asked him. The boy pointed at himself.

"T'Challa." The boy said to him. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Any relation to King T'Chaka?" Harry asked him. The boy scrunched his face in thought and looked to be going over Harry's words in his head before answering.

"My father." T'Challa answered him. So, this kid was actually a prince then.

"Oh yeah? I guess that means you're the prince of this place. Does your dad know your down here?" Harry asked the boy. Suddenly the boy seemed rather bashful. Harry just raised an eyebrow at the look.

"I'll take that as a no."

"Well, I do now." Harry turned to see King T'Chaka enter the room and gave his son a look. He then said something to him in a different language. Although he couldn't understand the words, he didn't need to, to be able to tell he was being gently scolded by his father. T'Challa ducked his head down in embarrassment before T'Chaka shook his head and turned to him.

"How are you feeling young Hadrian?" He asked kindly.

"Better than yesterday I suppose. I can feel the pain if I move my arm too much but it's not too bad right now. Thank you for asking King T'Chaka." Harry responded kindly to the man. T'Chaka nodded and seemed pleased by the news.

"That is good to hear." T'Chaka said before looking back at his son with a serious look. He said a few words and T'Challa left with a pout. The man then turned back to him.

"Hadrian, as I said yesterday, we have tried to find anyone from your past but have had no luck. We are not even sure of your country of origin though based on your slight accent, I would say it was somewhere in Europe. Possibly Britain." The man said. Harry nodded at the information not really expecting the man to find anything. The magical world didn't really have any interaction with the muggle after all.

"With that being said, I wished to extend an invitation for you to stay here in Wakanda as a guest of me and my family." T'Chaka said to him. Harry looked at him with shock.

"You want me to stay here? Why?" Harry asked immediately. If T'Chaka was a king then it fell within reason that he wanted Harry around for some reason that benefitted him.

"Normally, Wakanda accepts no outsiders into its border, however, it is my sincere belief that you have been sent here for a reason by Bast, the goddess we worship. I can think of no other way you would befriend a panther that would then lead you here. I know it may seem strange to you but here, I would have to be a fool to ignore such a clear sign." T'Chaka explained calmly. Harry looked at him with what he knew was an odd expression.

"Is it that easy? Don't you need to contact someone before you can just invite me to stay here?" Harry asked trying not to panic. In truth, he did not particularly want to stay in Wakanda. He had nothing here and he would like to get back to Britain as soon as possible to see if there was a way to get rid of this annoying body. He also needed a new wand. That being said, he had some other concerns too.

When he had spoken with Bast, she had mentioned something about a different world. Harry was concerned with the extent of how different this world was. He was almost positive there was no country know as Wakanda in Africa, especially not one that was so advanced. What else had changed? The nearest magical center was in South Africa if it even existed here.

How was he going to get to any of these places though? He had no money on him, no way of traveling unless T'Chaka gave him something. And how would he even explain why he was leaving to certain places? He had told the man he retained no memories of his past and he did not want to have the man think him a liar. Perhaps he could stay here for a time and do some reconnaissance of this world. If this truly was a country then Wakanda should have some sort of magical population even if it was a small one. It would at least help him find out how similar this world was to his.

Another thought struck Harry. Even if the world ended up being similar to his, and that was a big if, what were the odds that he even existed in this world. If he did exist then he would still have no access to his resources as they would no longer be his. It struck him how precarious his situation truly was. All his resources would most likely be inaccessible.

So, if these conclusions he made were accurate, then what would be the point of going back to Britain? It would most likely either get him in trouble for masquerading as himself or be a complete waste of time. So, a really bad situation or a bad situation. Of course, if he existed in this world already and was also famous then there would be a huge problem if it was discovered there was a child version of him wandering around. They would want to know how and probably wouldn't accept that he didn't know how to explain it.

Maybe a stay in Wakanda was a blessing in disguise. It had closed borders so not many if anybody would know he was here. He would be the guest of a king so he would probably be well taken care of which would be nice. T'Chaka was rather quick to offer him lodgings though, Harry suspected that had to do with slight interference from Bast. It annoyed him that she continued to influence situations around him even if a tiny part was grateful, she was trying to help him. Of course, she was probably trying to help him because she wanted him to stay here for some reason. Fucking gods.

At this moment, Harry realized T'Chaka was looking at him expectantly. Harry realized he asked the man and then rudely got lost in his own thoughts.

"I'm sorry can you repeat what you said, I got lost in thought." Harry said to him apologetically. T'Chaka smiled patiently at him.

"I said that our searches could find nothing about your history or origins and no database has you listed as a civilian. Due to this, it would be no problem for Wakanda to take you in as a guest." T'Chaka told him. Harry noticed he kept saying guest and not citizen but chose not to comment. He could think of a few reasons for this but a normal four-year-old probably wouldn't be able to think of such reasons. Come to think of it, he was probably already pushing the limits of what a four-year-old should be able to say. T'Chaka probably passed it off as a high intelligence as he didn't make a comment on it which benefitted him.

"Well, I suppose I don't really have anywhere else to go and living as the guest of a king can't be too bad… Unless you secretly mean as a prisoner in which case I think I'll take my chances in the jungle." Harry told him as an attempted joke which T'Chaka seemed to be able to understand as he let out a chuckle.

"Have no fear young Hadrian. You will be my personal guest and treated as such as long as you remain in Wakanda, this I promise. It sounds like you agree to staying here. I will now go and make preparations for your accommodations. T'Challa, come. Leave our guest to rest." T'Chaka said as he finished his explanation and looked at his young son who had been silently petting Nala throughout the conversation after he had snuck back into the room. At his father's words, T'Challa let out a little pout before nodding and waving goodbye to both him and Nala. Harry smiled and waved back at him.

"Good night young Hadrian… and welcome to Wakanda." T'Chaka said with a kind smile as he moved outside the room and closed the door behind him.

As they left the room, Harry took the time to slowly collect his thoughts. He would need to reestablish his occlumency and legilimency since they were probably the only two magics he could actually work on with any result right now. He looked at Nala who just stared back at him.

"Well… this will be fine I'm sure."


	4. Chapter 4

_1 Year Later_

The first thing Harry realized about Wakanda was that almost no one liked him here. It was clear he was viewed as an outsider and not to be trusted by the general populace. Most however, were smart enough to keep their opinions to themselves due to the fact that he had the backing of their King and the King's word was law in Wakanda.

To be honest, Harry didn't actually mind the distasteful stares he received from the general population and even most of the guards. He had grown up for the first eleven years of his life with his own family hating him. Then he was introduced to a bipolar wizarding world that couldn't decide if they loved him or hated him. Needless to say, Harry gave no shits about what these people thought of him as long as T'Chaka wanted him here.

Speaking of T'Chaka, the man was a gracious host to be sure. As soon as Harry had gotten out of the medical facility, T'Chaka had personally introduced him to his wife and to his son. Ramonda didn't seem to like him either, or at least didn't seem to have any fondness for him, but she was able to put aside her own thoughts and welcome him to their home to support her husband's decision.

He was also reintroduced to T'Challa who once again was more interested in playing with Nala but treated Harry nicely. He didn't seem to notice how others treated him and treated him like anyone of his other friends. For that, Harry was grateful. When people didn't have to give you kindness but they did anyway, it meant something.

Immediately, T'Chaka had offered to have Harry join T'Challa in his learning lessons and Harry had agreed. T'Challa seemed grateful to have another person with him during lessons. As a prince, he was educated through private tutors because his education was a mixture of normal curriculum and lessons specially tailored to teach him future royal duties of his. T'Chaka had told him he did not have to stay for the second part if he did not wish to but Harry did anyway. For one, T'Challa appreciated it and it also gave Harry an opportunity to better understand the way Wakanda functioned.

It surprised Harry to the extreme as it seemed to be the closest thing to a functional utopian society. T'Chaka acted as a leader to almost every function of life here. He had a council of course but they were an advisory council and had no real power except that they had the ear of the king. Their whole country was built off the discovery of a material called Vibranium, some sort of metal Harry had never heard of before. Apparently, it was the most valuable material on Earth and Wakanda had a mountain of it.

Harry had been interested in this new metal but more for magical reasons. He was curious how its conductivity compared to metals like gold, silver, and mithril. Right now, he dared not ask about it. The tutors had seemed like they hadn't wanted to tell him about the precious metal in the first place and it would look suspicious if a five-year-old took such interest.

Another thing Harry noticed was the advanced level of the class. T'Challa had a lot to learn apparently so he started his education early and was at an advanced level for his age. Harry had no problem keeping up of course as he still had his memories.

The one thing T'Challa struggled with was English and eventually Harry had offered to help him with it if he would like. T'Challa had been extremely grateful and had, in return, offered to help him with Xhosa, the language spoken in Wakanda.

T'Challa picked up English much easier than Harry picked up Xhosa which seemed to give the boy some form of pleasure. Harry hadn't made it an issue. He did not want to make T'Challa feel like he needed to compete with him.

Besides learning basic knowledge on Wakanda, Harry had also had some magical advancements as well.

His occlumency and legilimency abilities were back up to par. Legilimency had been rather helpful considering people here were constantly trying to hide something from him because they thought him to be an outsider.

He had regretted using the ability on T'Chaka once to see if the man was being honest with him only to discover he had been nothing but truthful in all their interactions. It made Harry feel a little guilty for doubting him. Ramonda he felt less guilty about. His original thoughts on her proved to be correct in that she did not really like him and thought letting him stay here would set a dangerous precedent for other outsiders.

What Harry was working on now though was something he had never truly perfected before and hoping Nala could help him with.

Harry paced slowly in the room that had been provided for him in this building. It was a beautifully modern room with a low king-sized bed and smooth wood floors. He had many cabinets that were on one wall that had a spacing in the middle where a transparent glass lay. The glass was actually a tv though none like Harry had ever seen. When Wakanda had said it was advanced, it meant it.

"Come on Nala. Up you get you lazy cat. Time to help out." Harry said as walked over to his sleeping panther. Nala slept in his room on her own bed at night. T'Chaka had a panther sanctuary but Nala refused to stay there and chose to only lay near Harry. Harry told her she was being a brat while T'Chaka had just laughed at the scenario.

Nala raised her head lazily and eyeballed him with annoyance. Harry just rolled her eyes at the perceived attitude.

"Come on, I need you to help out and let me feel what you feel." Harry told her. It was probably a strange sentence to anyone else but them.

Basically, Harry was trying to do one of the few types of magic that didn't rely on him having complete control over his magic. Divination. The magical art he had one deemed useless was now one of the few magics he could possibly do until he reached eleven.

Divination was a complicated magic that many believed you had to be born with the ability to do. This was sort of the case but not quite. The truth was that those who used Divination had a stronger connection to natural magic that originated from the world around them. Many were simply born that way and therefore it seemed like Divination was an ability that you needed to be born to have.

Harry had once talked to Luna about it as she had developed seer like abilities once she had reached nineteen. She was really good as a seer too, unlike Trewlaney who couldn't even tell when she made a prophecy. Luna had been able to pop out prophecy's whenever she wanted with little effort and all of them had been accurate. They weren't major of course. Sometimes it was simply predicting the weather in a foreign country or predicting who would win an election before the candidates had even been chosen.

Her and Hermione had researched into the ability and why it popped up for some but not others. They had found that it all came down to how in tune you were with natural magic, as in magic that did not originate from your body. The ability to become more in tune with nature magic was one that was not well studied and supposedly extremely difficult.

Harry planned to gain seer abilities through better attuning himself to nature magic. Easier said than done of course. He had tried once to do this out of plain boredom and had failed spectacularly. Harry was someone who had always had to rely on himself and his own magic. Hermione speculated once that this would hold him back from learning how to gain attunement. Now though, the situation was different. Harry had Nala.

Nala as an animal with magic was a creature that had a natural connection with nature magic. She didn't use it necessarily but it flowed easily through her like a river. Harry speculated that if he could enter a deep state of meditation with Nala and connect their senses as much as possible, he would be able to get a better sense of the nature magic that flowed through her. This would hopefully in turn, allow him to better be able to tune his own body's magic to the same frequency of nature.

It sounded easier than it actually was and it probably was going to take a long time to accomplish but Harry had nothing but time and seer abilities were something that could help him in the future reestablish himself on an international scale.

"Don't give me that look, you'll have plenty of time to sleep when we are done. I'll tell you what, I'll get you those weird meaty treats from the kitchen you seem to love." Harry said. At that, Nala perked up and finally seemed to get up and walk over to him. Harry just shook his head.

"Glutton." He mumbled to himself as he sat down cross-legged on the floor. Nala set in front of him and laid her head in his lap. Harry placed both his hands softly on her head before closing his eyes.

Meditation was hard for him and was one mental skill that Occlumency never really helped him with. His brain was always active and thinking about what was next. It was hard to quiet his thoughts an engulf his mind in silence and tranquility.

Harry had no idea how long it had been before he slowly slipped into the recesses of his own mind.

It was dark, but not like the all-encompassing darkness of when he had almost died a year ago, more of a simple blanket over his mind. Through the darkness, he could feel it. Nala's connection to him had grown and it was so beautiful now. It wasn't something that could be truly described but more of a feeling that felt both foreign and yet apart of him at the same time.

He focused in on Nala's feelings and tried to widen the connection between them to feel even more. Nala was an animal so the way she though felt completely different to the way he did. Although much more intelligent than other animals, she still was much more strongly controlled by emotions and instinct then the average human. It was almost overwhelming to feel for the first time.

After a moment, Harry got these new feelings under control and focused on her magic. It felt both different and the same as his own which made sense he supposed. Her magic came from both him and nature so it made sense it would seem familiar at least partially.

Harry ignored the part that felt familiar and focused in on the parts that felt different. Harry wasn't sure how to describe what he was feeling besides maybe thick. This magic felt different in so many ways but what stuck out to him was how thicker or maybe denser it was than his own magic. It was almost overwhelming and Harry had a brief moment of wondering whether or not before it was truly possible to mimic his own magic with this.

He stopped that train of thought and steeled himself. He would get this down one day even if it killed him. He would go even farther and find some way to master it. The first known master of nature magic… and possibly the last considering he was almost sure that there was no magical population on this planet.

"Hadrian."

Suddenly, Harry was no longer in deep meditation. He was back in his own body and in his room. He blinked a few times in confusion before looking up at the person standing in front of him. It was Amuya, T'Chaka's general and member of the legendary Dora Milaje. She was staring down at him with an expressionless face.

"There has been an attack at the border, the king wishes you to come to the throne room with the rest of the royal family while we investigate matters." Amuya told him. Harry's eyes widened in shock.

"How many are injured or dead?" Harry immediately asked.

"It is unclear at this time. We need to head to the throne room, your questions will have to wait until then" she told him. Harry nodded.

"Of course, forgive me inquisitiveness. I should have realized now would not be the time. Lead the way." Harry told her respectfully. Amuya was just another person who didn't want him here but he intended to kill his enemies with kindness in this case.

She nodded and turned before leading him to the throne room. It was a rather quick trip since they were both moving quickly and when Harry got there, the rest of the family was already there. T'Chaka looked at him when he entered.

"Ah Hadrian. I take it you have heard what has happened?" The man asked. Harry nodded.

"An attack on the border. I pray for the safety of your people during this dark time." Harry said respectfully to the man. T'Chaka seemed to appreciate the sentiment.

"As do I. We do not yet know if there are any more enemies in the capital which is why I asked you here." Amuya and the rest of my personal guard will protect you while we investigate this matter. We will soon know if there are any other enemies left here." T'Chaka said seriously before exiting the throne room. Harry looked around at the room and saw Ramonda talking to one of the Dora Milaje and T'Challa reading a book or at least trying too. He was clearly a little nervous about what was happening. Harry decided to walk over and comfort the boy.

" _How you feeling T'Challa?"_ Harry asked in Xhosa as he sat next to the boy. T'Challa looked at him and gave him a small smile for his efforts.

"I am well, simply saddened by events." He said back. Harry returned the smile at hearing T'Challa's own efforts.

"Sometimes bad things happen and all you can do is react to it. I am sure your father will get to the bottom of it and bring the criminals to justice." Harry told the boy. T'Challa looked confused for a moment as he translated the sentence in his head before nodding.

"You right. Father will handle it. Still, wish I could help." T'Challa told him. Harry smiled.

"One day you will be able to. Until then, do your best to learn so you will know how to best help when the time comes for you to make decisions." Harry told the boy. T'Challa gained a look of determination before nodding at his words.

Several hours of idle conversation later and T'Chaka came back into the room with confirmation that there were no other intruders in the capital. He told them they could return to their rooms for the night. Harry wished to ask about casualties but had a feeling it was not his place. Luckily, Ramonda also wished to know about what happened and asked her husband. T'Chaka hesitated before answering.

Several people were dead and many injured as someone had gained entry into Wakanda. It seemed their goal was to steal Vibranium and they had suceeded. Harry's eyes narrowed at that. It would have to be someone rather skilled considering how advanced and secure Wakanda was. Did someone on the inside help them perhaps? He would have to wait to see what the investigation turned up.

With that being the end of the discussion, T'Chaka bid them all to return to their rooms. Harry was escorted back again even though there was no longer a threat. Harry thought the entire time he was escorted back to his room. Vibranium was, while not a complete secret to the outside world, was hidden and thought to be extremely limited. Harry didn't know how much had been stolen from them but if it was any significant amount, it could look suspicious.

He cleared his head as he reentered his room and looked at the now sleeping Nala. He chuckled as he looked at the lazy cat and decided not to wake her. They could continue training tomorrow if need be. He sighed as he sat on his bed and looked out from his bedroom to the view of the city. He could actually see a smoke cloud in the distance outside of the city limits towards the western border. He frowned at the sight of it.

They would pay for this.

 _Several Days Later_

Harry walked in a zombie like state to the kitchen to hopefully find something to drink so he could get back to sleep. It was probably a few hours past midnight and he didn't want to stay up long enough to mess up his sleep schedule.

He wasn't exactly sure how he did it considering it wasn't on the way to his destination, but Harry somehow ended up quietly shuffling into the throne room. His eyes went from barely open to wide awake as he caught sight of a shadowy figure sitting on the throne. Harry let his eyes adjust to the darkness before identifying the person.

It was the king but he in what looked like a strange black body suit with markings on it. It took Harry a moment before he realized this was probably the legendary black panther armor. He had only really heard whispers about its appearance but this must have been it.

T'Chaka seemed to have taken off the mask as it was on the floor by his feet. He was hunched forward and staring blankly at his hands. His claws on his right hand were out. Harry flinched.

He had kept up to date on what had been happening since the stolen vibranium attack through legillimency. Amuya was really the only person besides the king he could find that knew what was happening. Yesterday they had discovered a link between the Kings brother and the stolen vibranium. The news had shocked Harry though he had not let it show on his face. Such news would not be well received by the clans he was sure but T'Chaka had insisted apparently for the man to be returned to answer for his crimes.

Considering the position, he was in, it wasn't hard to guess what had taken place between the brothers as well as the reason why T'Chaka couldn't stop staring at his claws. It also showed why he had not noticed Harry approach him.

"My King." Harry said as finally stood next to the man. T'Chaka seemed to jolt as his back straightened and his head whipped to look at Harry. The eyes were alert when they fell on him but quickly softened once they laid upon him. Harry could see the deep pain in them as clear as he could see the moon in the sky.

"Hadrian, what are you doing up this late?" T'Chaka asked as looked at him with suspicion. Harry simply shrugged at the question.

"I could not sleep. It seems you had the same problem. You are troubled my king." Harry stated leaving no room to be convinced otherwise. T'Chaka stiffened at his words before shaking his head.

"It is not for one so young to concern himself with." He responded back seriously.

"… You did something bad tonight. Something you didn't want to do. You do not have to tell me what it is. Better I do not know." Harry again stated as he looked into the man's eyes. For a second, T'Chaka seemed to grow angry at his words before closing his eyes tightly before looking down.

"I sometimes forget how observant you are." He finally said in a defeated tone.

"Did you do the best you could?" Harry asked simply.

"I do not know. I… I tried to make the best decision for Wakanda I could." He said but he sounded conflicted.

"You made a hard decision with no clear right answer then. Sometimes that's all you can do between two evils and hope you at least lessen the overall suffering. If it has possible negative consequences then just do your best to control said consequences. Nobody is perfect my King, not even you. Make mistakes and learn from them. That is all that can be expected from you as a human." Harry told the man. T'Chaka looked up at him when he finished and peered into his eyes. Harry did not shy away from the stare. He needed the man to know he was serious.

"I have never known a six-year-old to speak such words of wisdom." T'Chaka finally said as some of the pain in his eyes lessened

"Really? I find other children my age to be great inspirations of wisdom. We see things in a different light then adults, I think. Different perspectives if you would. Your own son has often given me words of wisdom to help send my mind into deep thought." Harry told the man. T'Chaka cracked a small smile at that. Good, best to not keep his mind on dark topics.

"I hear you give him quite a bit more wisdom than he gives you. Trying to help groom the next Wakandan king Hadrian?" T'Chaka teased.

"Just giving him some pointers though I suppose it's more on how I think a good king should be which may contrast with a Wakandan King. Do you wish me to stop?" Harry asked him.

"No, no. I think you are a good influence and you seem to know what you are talking about… Perhaps you should be king." T'Chaka teased once more. Harry screwed his face up in disgust.

"I wouldn't make a good king. I'm to bull headed. I am often confident that my way is the right way and that sometimes closes me off from the opinions of others. Not a good quality to have in a king. I also definitely put more value on the life of those I care for than others. A king must be objective and understand the value of all his subjects. Plus, being tied down to a throne would be terrible. I am a person who enjoys freedom." Harry told them.

"I have never once met a six-year-old who would not wish to be king." T'Chaka said.

"Most do not get a first-hand account of what its truly like to be king ever day either." Harry countered. T'Chaka smiled and nodded.

"Every time we talk, I find it harder to believe how young you are. Perhaps we should advance your learning again." T'Chaka suggested. Harry shook his head.

"No thank you. I enjoy classes with T'Challa and I am content to go at his pace." Harry told him. T'Chaka chuckled. Harry didn't say anything and they simply stayed in silence for a while as T'Chaka seemed to relax and lean back into his chair. He had closed his eyes and let his shoulders sag. He looked a lot better now than when Harry had found him.

"I hear the United Nations have discovered the attack and are asking now on how bad the attack was. Do you think you have a response?" Harry asked the man. T'Chaka opened his eyes and frowned.

"I have not thought about it much if I am honest. I have had other things on my mind." T'Chaka responded.

"They apparently did not even know Wakanda had so much Vibranium and from what I can understand, they are making subtle inquiries into how much more we have. That could be a problem for you." Harry told him softly. That part wasn't a secret, it was being speculated at even a commoner level on what to do about the UN's inquiries. T'Chaka made a noise in thought and seemed to scrunch his eyes in thought.

"My advice would be to convince them that the perpetrators took it all. Say you had it all stored in a vault and they broke in and took it. A rather easy and believable lie with how much Vibranium is worth. Of course, you would have had it all and somewhere secure. Too bad they got past such securities." Harry suggested.

"You know… that's not a bad idea. I will have to take it under consideration." T'Chaka said as he looked at Harry with a rather odd look in his eyes. Harry said nothing, he just stared back at the man.

He had once considered hiding his intelligence but had thought better of it. It would have been too easy to slip up and be even more suspicious. He showed his intelligence and wisdom and simply allowed them to assume he was just a really smart child. Realistically, that was just the most logical conclusion. No one would believe he was a grown man stuck in a child's body.

"It's getting late Hadrian. You should return to your room." T'Chaka finally said. Harry nodded in agreement.

"So it is, I originally was wandering the halls to get to the kitchen for a drink so I will get it and return back to my bed. I hope our talk has eased your thoughts, if only a little." Harry told him as he turned away and walked to the kitchen.

"It has indeed." He heard the man murmured as he left the room. Soon he was back on track and made it to the large kitchen. He walked to the fridge and pulled out some milk. He drank it cold before putting it back. He never understood people's love to warm the drink. He loved it chilled.

With his drink finished he walked back to his room. He had not used Legilimency on T'Chaka so he wasn't sure the exact way he dealt with his brother but it must have been bad. It did not however deal with the actual man who stole the Vibranium nor did it bring said Vibranium back. Ulysses Klaue was still out there though hopefully not for long. While Harry thought that T'Chaka needed more time to process his brother ordeal, the council would expect him to continue to pursue Klaue. He would probably have to go back out soon.

Harry grit his teeth in annoyance. He wished he had his goddamn magic under control and he could deal with Klaue himself, even in his young state. Oh well, the most he could do is work at it and that was exactly what he was doing.

He returned to his room and closed the door silently behind him.


	5. Chapter 5

_Several Years Later_

Both Harry and T'Challa were nine years old now and their lives had taken a drastic change lately. T'Chaka had finally decided to start having them trained when they turned eight and… it wasn't enjoyable, to say the least.

T'Challa took to it like a fish in water, which was probably a good thing since he would one day become the next Black Panther. He was quick and nimble and seemed to have unending stamina. It might have something to do with his enthusiasm that he excelled so much, but Harry would never know.

Harry, on the other hand, was pretty much the exact opposite. He didn't really have the drive to want to have actual training, preferring to use the time to meditate in his room and concentrate on his magic. Training was not necessarily a waste of time, but he was rather sure his trainers purposefully gave him harder tasks just because they did not like him and that certainly put it in a less fun light.

On the positive side, Ramonda started to form a genuine liking of him. It mainly had to do with his changing relationship with her husband. T'Chaka was getting older and the toll of running his kingdom and of being the Black Panther was really aging him. Plus, it seemed like every few months or so, they got some new lead on Klaue and he would leave and go after him. Klaue was smart though and seemed to expect them at every turn. Many nights, T'Chaka had come home feeling tired and defeated and many times Harry would find him and talk with him about something to take the man's mind off his failings. Sometimes he would even make the man some tea.

T'Chaka had come to expect his presence when he came home late and had long since stopped asking why Harry was even up in the first place. They would mainly talk about politics, both world and local to keep his mind off Klaue. A little after the incident, T'Chaka had announced the disappearance of his brother N'Jarobu. Harry was surprised by the mystery but more on how T'Chaka was unwilling to talk about the issue. It was then he concluded there was more to the situation than met the eye.

Harry had a feeling he could guess what happened to the brother but wisely kept his mouth shut. He remembered how T'Chaka had looked that night when he had first found him and knew the situation as a whole was probably complex.

Regardless, T'Chaka had actually started to ask his opinions on certain matters, not necessarily for real advice, more just to see what Harry would say about it. Harry would answer as best he could, but he wasn't honestly built for politics despite his experience with it. He preferred to brute force a problem, though he realized not everything could be solved in such a way.

"You need to learn to be able to move faster than you think." T'Challa lectured him as he landed another swift kick to Harry's side, unbalancing him. Harry grunted in annoyance at the hit and the comment.

"So, you keep telling me. I'm aware of how fighting works, but constantly repeating the theoretical components to me isn't going to help." Harry said to the boy who came in with another kick. Harry managed to dodge this one and even managed to throw in a jab of his own that T'Challa was forced to back off from.

Harry smirked at the small win, but soon T'Challa was back on him and he could do nothing but defend once more. Harry had to hold back a sigh at the fact that he couldn't do anything magically against T'Challa. When in his old world, he had once made a melee combat form that also integrated magical attacks into it. It's what had bumped him from dark lord killer to one of the most dangerous wizards of all time. That and his foray into magical creation theory.

Harry concentrated back onto the fight and decided to spend his time both defending as well as watching T'Challa. The style of fighting they were using had them striking hard and fast, but against an opponent that could keep up, like Harry, it could give said opponent time for analyzation. T'Challa had natural skill, yes, but he did not yet have the experience in actual fights like Harry did.

Harry watched the way the boy seemed to move and weave for a few moments before finally noticing the pattern in the boy's fighting. He would try to blind Harry with several punches before trying to go in for a kick to finish him. Harry just had to wait for him to start up his little combo and wait for the ending kick. T'Challa favored his right foot so all Harry had to do was catch it and throw the kid off balance.

He waited and finally, T'Challa decided to throw his little combo. Harry weathered the blows head-on until finally, the kick came. He sidestepped it easily as he had been expecting it and grabbed the leg. He lifted it on his shoulder and pushed up against the surprised T'Challa. He then took his right leg and knocked the boys remained leg from under him and brought him to the ground. He smirked at the boy who gave him a look of surprise as he leaned over him.

"You should spend less time trying to teach your opponent and more time defeating him," Harry said as he moved off the boy. T'Challa frowned at that.

"You cheated," T'Challa exclaimed. Harry smirked at the boy.

"Let me tell you something. In a spar, there is room for honor. When you and your opponent are fighting by the same rules, then there is room for honor. Anyone else, though, never hold back. I'd rather you fight with dishonor then end up dead." Harry told him seriously. T'Challa looked at him in confusion.

"But we were fighting by the same rules!" He said, looking confused.

"Then I guess that means I didn't cheat. Now, do you want me to tell you what do next time so I don't beat you or not?" Harry asked him. T'Challa nodded eagerly looking much more interested.

"It's very simple. You have a very good natural instinct for fighting, but you become predictable after a while and I was finally able to puzzle out some of your favorite little combinations. After a while, I just had to wait for you to throw one that I knew I could counter and that's how you ended on the ground. Questions?" Harry finished.

"How do you learn to become less predictable?" T'Challa asked. Harry shrugged at that.

"It's something you end up just learning as you go. Becoming aware of the defect usually helps you avoid it. Eventually, it's something you'll just learn to incorporate in your fighting technique. I'd imagine experience helps with that." Harry told him, still playing the whole child card.

"He is exactly right." A voice said. They both turned and watched the King enter in some simple purple attire. T'Challa ran up to the man and jumped into his arms with a smile. He then began to speak very quickly in the African language they were both accustomed to. Harry was doing well with the language, but he had trouble when T'Challa got this excited as he got much harder to understand and required real concentration to follow.

After exchanging words, T'Chaka finally turned to Harry. Harry bowed his head to the man respectfully. T'Chaka had told him many times he didn't need to do so, but Harry continued anyways. It was a reminder to the man and to Harry of his continued and willing position not as the man's equal but someone under him. It was not an honor Harry had given to anyone in many years.

T'Chaka was not a perfect man by far, he was rather conservative, or at least what Harry assumed was conservative, but he cared for his people first and foremost and was willing to go the distance for them. There was no corruption in Wakanda miraculously, or at least, not in the same way that other civilized countries have. There seemed to only be the continued goal for the betterment of the future. Even if Harry didn't always agree on the direction, he deeply respected the purpose.

"My king, welcome home. I can tell by your attitude that your mission was a success." Harry commented lightly. Indeed, the King had walked in looking a mix of calmness and serenity. Something that he would never do after a failed mission. Then again, this mission was no true challenge. While not actually told the content of missions, Harry could usually piece together based on conversations that he heard. T'Chaka just arrived from a border dispute where a caravan consisting of a warlord and his men had planned to enter Wakanda and do who knows what. He doubted they would ever hear of the men again.

"I am that obvious before your eyes, am I? Yes, the mission was a success. No troubles. I hear you two have been training all day." He commented with a smile.

"We have," T'Challa said proudly,

"Well, T'Challa has. I have simply been aiding the prince as a punching bag for most of it." Harry replied with a smile at T'Challa.

"Not true, Hadrian actually beat me today!" T'Challa said, sticking up for him. T'Chaka seemed surprised by the information and it wasn't hard to understand why. Harry never usually beat T'Challa in their spars. It's not to say that he couldn't. Just like today, Harry could often find weaknesses in his form to exploit but he just chose not to. It would seem strange that he had so much skill in battle when he was supposedly a beginner. That being said, he did make sure to impart some knowledge on the boy every once in a while, to speed up the process.

"I simply noticed a particular weakness in his style and was luckily able to take advantage," Harry told the King as T'Chaka put down his son and listened with a smile.

"Very good, perhaps I shall look at the footage tonight and see how you two did. So, what is on the agenda for the rest of the day?" The King asked. T'Challa spoke of how he had some work he still had to complete for their lessons.

"I thought I would go on a walk with Nala through the city and the surrounding forest. After that, I thought I would come back and do some more meditation." Harry told the man. It was well known how much he meditated as there was just no way to hide it with how much he did it.

"More meditation, that sounds so boring," T'Challa said with a roll of his eyes. Harry smiled at him.

"It can be, but being alone with your thoughts can allow you to think or discover things you normally wouldn't," Harry told T'Challa, which was true. Even if he didn't need to meditate to gain attunement with the environment to access magic, he used meditation a lot for thinking of problems he had gone through in the past and it helped.

"Young Hadrian is right, though it is not something someone so young usually does so much. Any reason for that?" He asked him. It wasn't the first time the King had asked him about it, and it wouldn't be the last Harry was sure.

"I exist in a world with too many questions and not enough answers. It is as simple as that." Harry responded easily.

"And has your meditation helped with answering some questions of yours?" He asked. Harry shrugged.

"Not as many as I would like, but some progress is better than none," Harry responded letting some of his annoyance leak through. He had honestly made a lot of progress with his whole nature magic project, but something was stopping him from doing the last step and he wasn't sure what. He had some success in that his sensory skills had flown crazy high and he could sense pretty much every living being within half a mile of his location, but still wasn't exactly what he wanted.

"A good philosophy. Remember to be patient, you are very young and have all the time in the world to figure out the universe." T'Chaka advised. Harry nodded at the words and showed to give them thought but did not verbally respond.

"Well, if you will excuse me, I need to go collect Nala for our outing," Harry said politely excusing himself and ready to walk down a separate hallway. They both nodded at his farewell.

"Very well, I will have some guards waiting at the exit to escort you through the city. Please tell Nala we said hello." T'Chaka told him. Harry nodded.

"I will and thank you." He replied before turning and heading to his room. Once there, he took a quick shower and then moved to a separate room near his. Recently, Nala had been getting bigger and having them both share his room all the time was getting to be a little much. T'Chaka was nice enough to convert one of the rooms next to his into a separate room for Nala. It was made up with plants and the walls were moving, video, wallpapers of the middle of a jungle to make her feel more at home.

Nala seemed to like it well enough, but as his partner and closest friend, he made sure that she was properly exposed to her true environment. He also even convinced T'Chaka to let them go on the occasional hunt in the surrounding jungles. The man hadn't liked the idea, but with enough proper prodding from Harry, he had finally caved into the idea.

"Nala, it's time to go for our walk," Harry called out. His large companion was under a piece of shrubbery in the room hidden from his vision, though he could tell where she was based on his sensory abilities. As soon as he called out to her, she seemed to rise from the floor itself and looked at him lazily. He smiled at her.

"You are looking bigger again. We may have to increase your diet if this keeps up." Harry pointed out while getting a playful nudge from his partner. Of course, due to her size, playful nudge meant she knocked him back several feet but he let her anyways.

"I keep telling you, it's a good thing to be bigger. It's not like I am trying to say your fat or anything, you're mainly muscle." Harry commented with humor as they walked down the building and got into a rather large elevator. It was used for when the council convened and lots of people were in the building, or when Harry and Nala were going somewhere. Nala and he walked right up to the door and Harry was surprised to see a familiar face. Amuya was standing there with two other guards waiting for him.

"Hello Amuya, will you be joining us today?" Harry questioned. He asked calmly and politely. On the inside, he was a little concerned. Amuya only guarded the royal family and as nice as they were to him, that did not include Harry. Even for something like this… No, especially for something like this, it was very strange that she of all people would be his escort. Was T'Chaka suspicious of him, perhaps?

It would make sense; Harry did arrive under rather strange circumstances as well as the way he acted. T'Chaka could believe that he was a messenger from Bast and also still be wary of him. Even in Africa, the gods often worked in mysterious ways.

"I will. The King wishes to make sure you are safe." Amuya said simply. Harry nodded and said nothing further. T'Chaka could investigate all he wanted too, but technically; Harry had done nothing that could be seen as really strange besides meditating. He had no real major breakthroughs yet. He also knew that there were no cameras in his room. T'Chaka was very big on personal privacy, especially in the home. Harry believed the man spoke the truth when he told him that. Could be worse, Amuya at least was friendlier to him now after spending so much time watching him and T'Challa.

"I didn't have a route in mind, would you recommend one?" Harry asked her.

"I would recommend walking through the southern district. There is not as much foot traffic and it has an exit we can use after to access the jungles. If that is still what you wish." Amuya responded. Harry nodded.

"Southern district it is then," Harry said and with that, they all left the building. Harry spoke to Nala as they continued to move throughout the city. He just liked to talk to her and she would respond with certain noises or movements. It was amusing watching the way people stared at Nala as they passed by. People had seen panthers before, but none like Nala. She was more than three times the size of a normal one and tightly packed with muscle. She could probably murder everyone on this street before the guards could take her down.

"You know, maybe we can get you some armor like the river tribe has for their rhinos. Of course, you would have to stop growing to suit you up. What do you think? Are you finally done growing or are we still going to have to wait for you to finish up?" Harry teased. This time, Nala actually nipped him for that comment, and he couldn't help the laugh that came from him when she did so.

40 minutes later and they were at the edge of the capital and at a small entrance leading into the jungle. It was locked and normally civilians were not supposed to use it, more for their own safety than anything else. A jungle is not exactly the safest place to be.

"Are you ready?" Amuya asked as she unlocked the door.

"Of course," Harry replied to her as he patted Nala on her side. She made a low noise in the throat that was probably the equivalent of a purr. Eventually, they were outside the wall and in the jungle. Harry immediately sagged once entering the jungle. Places closer to nature made him more comfortable these days. It was most likely due to his dabbling, but still, it was nice to see some benefits considering he had yet to reach his goal. He looked back at Nala.

"Well, go on. Go stretch your legs. Meet back in an hour, I trust you will be able to find me." Harry told her. She made what sounded like a scoff before bounding away into the forest. He watched her go before deciding to go for a little walk.

"She gets bigger every time I see her," Amuya commented as she got into step next to him.

"Yes, it would seem so. I fear what may happen if she keeps growing, have the researchers figured out why she continues to grow?" Harry asked curiously. Her bond with him was why, but he wished to know if they had a way of making such a connection. They were the most advanced nation in the world after all.

"No. The best guess they have is some sort mutation in her DNA, but they still cannot find anything." Amuya told him. Harry nodded silently while he thought of that. It was probably for the best.

"What about you? I hear you're as mysterious as your partner and like to meditate more and more often. The King tells me you are trying to solve problems which leads me to question what boy who is not even a decade old seems so worried about." Amuya said/asked.

"There is nothing wrong with meditation, it is a good way to clear one's mind and focus yourself. As for my problems, well, let's just say it is complicated." Harry said evasively.

"Is it your past?" Amuya prodded causing Harry to come up short and stop.

"What?"

"Your past, have you remembered something?" Amuya asked. Harry debated on how to answer that. Of course, it wasn't, but perhaps it was a way to get the King to not look too deeply into him.

"Hmm. It's not remembering per se… I sometimes will get flashes, though" Harry said quietly after a moment of silence.

"Flashes? Of what?" she pushed. Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"A woman, a man. She's a redhead and he is a brunette. She is young and what I would assume is considered pretty by adult standards. She has emerald eyes like my own. The man looks to be an older version of myself with glasses. He is handsome I would say and his face looks to have a permanent grin on it." Harry told her as they kept moving.

"And you think these people are your parents?" She asked him.

"Were. I think these people were my parents." Harry stated sadly. He noticed Amuya pause at that, but he did not wait for her as he kept pushing through the jungle they were in. He wasn't bothered by his parent's death at this point in his life. It had been so long since their death that he had more than come to terms with it.

"I am sorry to hear that. Are you sure?" She asked him.

"Only if the flashes are to be believed," Harry answered in turn.

After they finished, they simply walked in silence. It was beautiful in Wakanda and being here and actually able to enjoy life was nice. In his old world, he had always been busy doing one thing or another. He would put down dark asshats left and right and had even taken out a corrupt government in South America at one point. He never really stopped to look around and smell the roses as it were. Here, he had nothing but time. As far as he could tell, there was magic that existed in this world, but it seemed different to his. How he didn't know exactly as he couldn't really leave the capital, but every once in a while, he'd feel them on the edge of his senses doing things.

The point is that there was not really any big disaster or problem he had to go out and solve, at least, not yet. Obviously, Bast didn't drag him all the way here for nothing after all. Not that he could do anything until he found a way to use magic anyway. All he could do is relax and work towards getting his magic.

A moment later, Nala jumped down from a tree next to him and he smiled at her. He looked at her face to see blood on her maw.

"Looks, like someone found a midday snack. What was it you ate?" Harry asked Nala as he grabbed the edge of his shirt and started to wipe her off. She started to struggle in his hands and Harry grabbed harder.

"Stop it, I told you to wash your face if it got all bloody otherwise I would do it for you," Harry said as he continued to wipe and she continued to struggle. Of course, it was mainly playful as physically, Nala was several degrees stronger than him. If she actually wanted to force him to stop, she could.

"There, now stop your complaining you big baby," Harry said to her as he released his hold and let go of his shirt. Nala made a whine of what was clearly annoyance and he could hear his two guards chuckling behind him.

"You see, they're laughing at you for being ridiculous." Harry teasingly scolded his big cat friend. Nala growled and the guards started laughing harder. Harry patted her on the side.

"Alright, let's go back home," Harry said, to which they all nodded. It took another forty minutes for them to get back into the city and back into the tower where the ruling family lived. Harry thanked the guards for escorting him and then went back to his room.

On the way, he thought of the questions Amuya had asked him and figured she was probably going to the King to report what Harry had told her. If he were a more sentimental type, he would feel hurt by the King's lack of trust in him. Luckily, he understood the man's possible misgivings about him. He was sure he would do the exact same in the man's situation.

He decided not to worry about it as he reached his room. He looked over at the clock and saw that it was still only a little past noon, giving him plenty of time in the rest of the day to figure out a possible way to fix his magic.

"Lay at the foot of the bed please Nala," Harry told her and she followed his instruction with no issue. He no longer needed to physically touch her to connect with nature itself, although having her near did help. He quickly crossed his legs and sat Indian style as he closed his eyes. Within a moment, he could feel the energy of the world all around him. It washed over him like an ocean, but did not sweep him away.

Once again, he tried to reach out with his magic and manipulate the nature magic around him only to find nothing happen. He concentrated and tried to tug it and bend it to his will as hard as he could. The nature magic simply did nothing. It was too massive and powerful for Harry to take even a little control over. Harry mentally growled before calming himself. He couldn't afford to get angry and lose his concentration right now. Instead of trying to bend it to his will, he simply sat and thought about his predicament.

It had been like this for the past several months where nothing seemed to work no matter how much he concentrated. He knew it was possible, yet he couldn't figure out how to do it. For someone like him who considered himself an expert on magic, this was beyond frustrating.

He thought back to how his own magic worked based on his core. The magic would build within him, then he would use his willpower to shape it into what he wanted. Once there, it would be released out in the form of a spell. The spell did not usually effect nature as it seemed to glide through the ocean of the worlds own magic.

Harry frowned as he thought of something else. Transfiguration did not work like that of course. You could turn inanimate objects into different things. Things like rocks and trees were all part of nature in their own way yet transfiguration bent them to the will of the user and turned them into something else.

So, on some level, human magic must work with nature magic or somehow get past it in some way. He thought further and further on how transfiguration worked going over every step that he knew of for some sort of clue into his own problem.

Although knowledgeable of it, Harry had never gone deep into the theory of transfiguration as it had seemed so easy. Charms and curses had always seemed more complex to him, then turning something into something else. And of course, there was a runic theory which was basically like teaching the universe a new language to then get it to do certain magical outcomes. Similar to programming languages used by computers if he understood them correctly. It wasn't quite that simple, of course, but it was as close as you could get to simplifying it.

Transfiguration, though had been something else. It was mainly theorized that you would use your own will to subvert that of the natural magic in an object to change it, but Harry was now thinking it must be more complex than that as that was basically what he had been trying to do for the past few months and he wasn't even getting close.

Thinking about it further, Harry narrowed it down to the actual conversion of the item. There was something going on there that he didn't quite understand. He thought back to all the times he tried to use transfiguration and how the magic took place. It did seem to subvert the will of the natural magic in the item and use the users to change the item.

As he thought further on that he realized it didn't make any sense. If the nature magic in it was truly gone, then the item would stay in its transfigured state forever just as items created by conjuration did. No, the nature magic would still have to be there for it to turn back. So, the user's magic must simply suppress the nature magic temporarily and as time went on the items natural magic would become bottled up until it burst which would cause it to change back into its natural form.

Harry felt a cold feeling settle upon him at this realization. It was so easy to understand now; he couldn't suppress or change the worlds magic as it was too massive to take and control all of it with his own will. That made him have another idea. He opened his eyes and looked around his room. He had a pencil on his dresser and he got up and walked over to it. He concentrated on the natural magic contained in the item and on his own inner core. Within a moment he reached out into the item and he watched with wide eyes as the pencil changed before his eyes until it was a long sharp piece of metal.

He touched it again and the pencil turned back to its natural form. He turned back to Nala and saw she had her head up looking at him. So, he could turn items with his magic since they were technically their own being even with being part of nature. This allowed Harry to change it. Changing the very magic in the air was another matter entirely, which is all he had been trying this entire time.

"Well… fuck."


	6. Chapter 6

_Several Months Later_

Harry was once more in his room as he looked at his hand and flexed it.

It had been several months since he had hit a breakthrough in his magic. He had learnt that he could transfigure things as long as he could touch them. This was good and useful to an extent, but not really what he was looking for. Conjuration still was outside of his reach as was charms, curses, and other forms of magic.

Nala had seemed very interested in his ability to turn things from one object to another. It confused and amused her all at once. He had made her several toys that she seemed to like to play with although she would become upset once they turned back to their original form. She would even come to find him when they did and would lay the object at his feet while silently demanding he turn it back to her toy.

Nothing had really changed as far as his living arrangements went. T'Chaka had seemed to be less suspicious of him as of late and he suspected Amuya had gone ahead and told him what she had learned from their conversation.

He knew that T'Chaka had officially declared the ongoing investigation into his past, over. They had not found anything and while there would still be a passive search that would most likely be happening, the king was no longer going to waste resources looking for something that no longer existed. Harry didn't mind. Even if his parents did exist in some capacity, they would never be HIS parents.

"Hadrian." Harry looked upon hearing his name. T'Challa was in his doorway looking at him.

"T'Challa." He greeted, "What brings you to my door? Not more training I hope. My bruises still haven't healed from this mornings session."

T'Challa laughed at him and Harry gave a small smile at the boy's amusement. T'Challa was getting better and better and even with his experience in battle, T'Challa never seemed to need to be shown something twice before incorporating it. It made him a true pain to go against.

"No, I decided to fight with Okoye instead, she can actually give me a challenge." T'Challa teased him. Harry shook his head. Okoye was a fourteen-year-old girl who was the daughter of one of the guards here at the palace. She had been given leave to start training for a position among the Dora Milaje. The girl seemed nice enough if a little serious at times. She didn't seem to like or dislike Harry but she got along well enough with T'Challa. She was very skilled and Harry was sure she would make a great warrior one day.

"Well, you know me T'Challa, my trade is more centered around knowledge. It helps me give an advantage over others the same way your fighting does." Harry said back easily.

"Oh? Your knowledge has not helped you beat me if I remember correctly?" T'Challa said back, giving Harry a playful shove.

"Only because I have not wished to use it to defeat you, my naïve friend," Harry said back with a wicked grin.

"Well, maybe we should test this little theory of yours right now. Let's see if your knowledge can beat my skill." T'Challa challenged.

"If you wish my prince. Allow me to show you the power of knowledge. For example, I have the knowledge that you snuck away from your guard yesterday to play with a girl from the river tribe. You seemed to be enjoying her company. Perhaps I should tell your farther to make preparations for a ceremony." Harry said slyly. Although he could not see it due to his darker skin, he could tell there was blood rushing to T'Challa's cheeks at what he just said.

"How do you know about that, you didn't even leave the tower!" T'Challa demanded fearfully. Harry just smiled.

"Your skill lies in your fist, mine lies in my knowledge," Harry said to him with his grin still in place.

"She is just a friend!" T'Challa exclaimed, trying to defend himself. Harry shrugged.

"If she is then you won't have an issue with your father knowing about her," Harry said suggestively and pretended to walk to the door as if he were leaving to see T'Chaka that very moment. T'Challa reached out an grabbed him still looking nervous.

"Ok, ok, you win. Please don't tell my father." T'Challa seemed to beg. Harry laughed.

"I am just teasing you T'Challa. I would not have told your father. Who you hang out with is your business." Harry said as he put his hand on the boy's shoulder. T'Challa glared at him.

"You are evil."

"Eh, just a little bit," Harry responded back, causing them both to laugh.

"So, if not to beat me black and blue again, why have you come to my door?" Harry asked.

While he had no problem with people visiting him, most knew that he spent most afternoons in meditation and preferred to be unbothered. T'Challa became serious at his question.

"Father says we are having a full family dinner tonight and wants to make sure we are both there," T'Challa said to him. Harry frowned a little. He knew that really mean T'Chaka meant he wanted to see Harry specifically there, as the rest of them were there normally.

Harry was not part of the royal family and T'Chaka usually let him eat whenever he wanted. Due to his meditation, that could end up being at all hours of the afternoon or night. He would eat with the royal family when he happened to not be doing anything at the time they ate. He wondered what the King could want to see all of them for.

"I will make myself available then. Do you have any idea what he wishes to tell us?" Harry asked his friend. T'Challa shook his head at that.

"No, he wouldn't even give me a hint. I suppose it must be good news though. Father does not like to tell us bad news unless it is unavoidable and if it were he wouldn't have waited till dinner." T'Challa said, showing the intelligence he had in his nine-year-old head. Harry nodded at that.

"Sound reasoning. I suppose we will just have to wait and see. We have a few hours until then I suppose I should do something that does not cause me to lose track of time. I suppose I can play with Nala until then. I am sure she will appreciate it. You, on the other hand, should probably go clean yourself. You smell like that stew your mother had us try several months ago." Harry said while crinkling his nose to show his disgust. T'Challa rolled his eyes.

"I do not smell that bad." He whined.

"Maybe not, but you're close," Harry said smiling once more.

"Yes, yes, I shall go clean myself then. I shall see you at dinner." He said before leaving. Harry called one last goodbye as he watched the boy exit his room and disappear down the hall. He sighed and went over to the desk in his room and sat down at it. He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a notebook and opened it. The book was full of arithmetic calculations that didn't really make any sense unless you knew of magic.

He kept trying to create a theory on both how nature magic worked and how to manipulate it. It wasn't easy considering such calculations were meant for human magic specifically so trying to use that to puzzle out nature magic was… frustrating, to say the least. He had some success, but didn't have much to show for his months of thought and work.

He kept getting stuck on the difference between nature magic and human magic. The only thing he seemed to understand was the human body itself acted as some sort of filter that changed the magic to be more suited for the person. Interesting to be sure, but not really helpful to his situation.

Of course, Harry could wait a couple of years until his magic had normally finished maturing and try to hone his wandless magic. He was confident that with some years of practice, he could regain his ability to cast as easily as he had with his phoenix core wand. The power he could let out with the Elder wand would probably be lost to him though.

He did spend some time erasing and writing formulas that showed math that was basically gibberish to anyone else but he could only get so far. Eventually, he quit writing and put the notebook away. He moved from his desk and went over to his closet. He opened it and gazed inside. He picked a long formal black shirt to wear for the dinner tonight to make sure he looked presentable, after all, he had no idea if anyone would be joining them and he would rather not have the royal family be disappointed in his choice of attire.

He picked some simple yet conservative sandals to go with the outfit and some soft trousers to finish up the outfit. He slowly got dressed before looking at himself in the mirror. He looked rather good if he did say so himself. He liked the attire Wakanda had available. The mix of modern and more traditional clothes available really was pleasing in both look and feel.

After giving himself the okay, he made his way out of his room and over to the elevator. He pressed a button for the floor that contained most of the living areas. He waited patiently until the elevator dinged and the doors slid smoothly open.

He walked out and walked over to the dining room and saw there were already guards stationed around the floor which meant the King was close by. He nodded at them politely as he made his way to the room. He entered and saw T'Chaka and the queen already sitting patiently and talking quietly with one another. They stopped their conversation when he entered and smiled at him, which he returned with his own. He lowered his head slightly.

"My King, my Queen. It is good to see you both today. I am glad to see I am not late." Harry said to them as he sat in the seat on the opposite side of the queen and two away from the king. He made sure to leave a place closer to his parents for T'Challa.

"Hadrian. I have not seen you for a few days. I don't think I have met a child as busy as you are." T'Chaka said to him. Ramonda pursed her lips at hearing that.

"Indeed, you should be out enjoying your youth and exploring the city, making friends. Instead, I hear that when not in classes, you spend almost all your time in your room." Ramonda admonished in a motherly tone. Harry chuckled.

"T'Challa and Nala are my friends and I do go through the city when I have a reason to. Everything else is provided for me by you both so I want for nothing." Harry said back with a smile.

"So, by your own admission, you only have one human friend?" T'Chaka teasingly asked.

"I wasn't aware that I had to have human specific friends. I shall have you know that Nala is an excellent conversationalist. She agrees with everything I say." Harry insisted. This caused both the King and Queen to laugh at him.

T'Challa walked in at that moment, stopping the conversation from going any further. He was dressed similarly to Harry though his clothes were a dark blue and in a slightly different yet similar style.

"My, you both look very handsome," Ramonda said almost cooing.

"Thank you." They both said at the same time as T'Challa moved past him and sat across from his mother and next to his father who was at the head of the table.

"Well, I suppose we should start the dinner now that we are all here," T'Chaka said. As soon as he said it, several servants brought out a few trays of food and easily put them in front of them. One tray had a variety of food while another appeared to have some grilled meat that might have been in avian in nature. The last tray had bread on it.

They quickly put some food on their tray and said a quick prayer to the goddess before digging in. The conversation around the meal was light for the most part. The adults asked T'Challa what he had done that day while the boy told him the usual. When they got to him, they went back to trying to encourage him to go out more.

"Is there a pressing problem you are trying to solve with your meditation Hadrian?" Ramonda asked him. Harry frowned at the question.

"Pressing as in something that needs to be completed as soon as possible because of some time limit, no. More pressing in the sense that I would like to figure it out as soon as possible." Harry answered.

"And you still have not told anyone what this supposed problem is. As smart as you are, you should know that there are others with more knowledge than you who could possibly help if you simply let them." Ramonda pushed. T'Chaka frowned at that.

"Ramonda…" He said in warning as he gave a slight shake of his head. Ramonda frowned at that.

"He is just a boy, husband. He should not have or feel like he has to take on issues by himself. He should know that he has the support and can count on us by now." She returned, not backing down.

"If I may. It is not that I do not trust you, but my issue is a rather complicated one and not one that others would be able to solve for me. When I solve it, I can perhaps explain better and then I believe you will better understand my reasoning. Would that be acceptable my Queen?" Hadrian asked her. Ramonda still didn't seem happy, but acquiesced and nodded her consent. Both T'Chaka and T'Challa seemed pleased that the conversation had come to an end.

With the end of that conversation, the tension in the room seemed to dissolve and they went back to easier topics. T'Chaka had to deal more and more with the UN nowadays and had to balance that while also maintaining his stance on being and isolated nation. Several had come to Wakanda to see if more Vibranium could be found only to be run out of the country. T'Chaka barely allowed any into his country.

Harry couldn't really blame him. Vibranium was worth a lot and if the world knew how much they truly had here, there would be a huge race to try and take it from them. That could end up leading to war in the future. Plus, humans were already good enough at killing each other. No reason to add to that.

Ramonda dealt with the internal matters of Wakanda in her husband's absence. Just today, she had to help settle a dispute between two tribes who were arguing about something or other. It was certainly not easy, especially as she had to remain impartial.

After a few more moments, they all finished dinner and the conversation seemed to slowly come to a close among them. Once silence finally reigned, Harry decided to speed things up here and get down to the real issue.

"So, are we coming close to the point where you tell us why we had to be here tonight?" Harry casually asked with a small smile. This seemed to cause a chuckle among the couple while T'Challa leaned forward in eager anticipation.

"Very astute as always Hadrian. Yes, we do have a couple of announcements for both of you that we are sure that you will be eager to hear." T'Chaka told them both. He then reached his hand over and gently wrapped it around his around his wife's and then looked at both him and T'Challa. T'Challa seemed to not understand but Harry's eyes widened at the gesture and the way they were both gently smiling at them. He had seen this particular look from several of his old friends from his old world and recognized it immediately.

"No…" Harry said, shocked. T'Chaka gave a chuckle at his expression.

"I should have known you would be smart enough to guess, Hadrian. To confirm your suspicion, yes, Ramonda is once again pregnant." T'Chaka said while Ramonda continued to radiate happiness and joy. T'Challa jumped from his seat and started to cheer and dance next to the table. Harry stayed seated, but smiled at the news as well.

"Congratulations my queen. I am overjoyed to hear such news. How far along are you if I may ask?" Harry questioned.

"Only two months along now. We wanted to tell you both before I started showing but no one else has been told yet and it will not be officially announced until a month from now. We are trusting you not to say anything outside of this tower, understood?" Ramonda said back as she looked back and forth between the two of them. T'Challa nodded vigorously.

"Of course. No one shall hear it from these lips." Harry assured her. With that, they moved back on to the baby.

" _Is it going to be a boy or a girl?"_ T'Challa asked with such excitement that he slipped back into his native language.

" _We do not know yet. It will take a few more months before we can tell, my son."_ Ramonda said, responding easily.

" _It will be a girl,"_ T'Chaka said with pride and assurance in his voice. Harry smiled at his words while Ramonda rolled her eyes at her eccentric husband.

" _You should not set their expectations to such without any proof."_ Ramonda gently admonished, though she was still smiling at him.

" _It will be a girl, Bast has already sent me dreams of her. I am sure."_ T'Chaka said as he crossed his arms stubbornly with a smile. Harry kept smiling, but flinched on the inside. He hadn't heard or seen any sign of Bast since his first meeting with her and he would prefer if it stayed that way.

" _If you are so sure then I suppose we should start getting the proper toys,"_ Hadrian said in the African language he was now practically fluent in.

"Do not encourage him, please," Ramonda told him lightly. Harry smiled and let out a laugh from her expression.

"Well, this is wonderful news, but if I remember correctly, you mentioned there was more than one announcement. Surely there is nothing that can be as surprising as that." Harry suggested as he looked them trying to get them to move to the next topic.

"Actually, the next announcement has to do with you, Hadrian. There is something we had hoped you would consider." T'Chaka told him as he once more became serious. The joyful tone of the room seemed to disappear and was replaced with something akin to anticipation. T'Chaka pulled several papers out of a hidden pocket stitched somewhere in his robes. He slid the papers to him.

Harry frowned as he looked at the papers and back at all the occupants of the room. Everyone was staring at him, including T'Challa who seemed to barely contain his excitement. Judging by that, he was the only one who didn't know what this was about.

"Hmm. I see I am the only one not in the know. Alright, what is this about? I assume I am not in trouble for something, judging from the smiles?" Harry asked them as picked up the papers and started reading through it.

His first thought from reading was that it appeared that the King had made a request from one of the several public services in his realm. He almost chuckled as he saw that. The King didn't need to request anything, this was most likely more to make something official by taking the official channels. Still, he was curious about what caused the King to do something like this.

He continued to read it and became even more confused for a moment. The paper wasn't in English and he was reading and translating the words in his head at the same time. He became confused as he thought he was reading something on the transfer of ownership over an object before re-reading it.

No, this wasn't about the transfer of ownership over an object, this was about a person and it wasn't a transfer of ownership but a change in guardianship. He was even more confused now as this was starting to look like a…

Harry froze as his mind finished translating the words on the page and realized what this was. He flipped through the next few pages just to further confirm what he had already read but had not believed.

"You… want to adopt me?" Harry asked with what he assumed was a clear shock in both his voice and on his face.

"Well… as you know Hadrian, the search for your family or anyone who you might be related to has been fruitless. As I told you several weeks ago, the search has been officially suspended for the most part which means you will be staying in Wakanda." T'Chaka explained to him. Harry could only nod at his words.

"Well, you have been staying with us for several years now and Ramonda and I have talked about your situation. To be honest, you are already like a son to both of us and we thought it only right that with this future addition to our family on the way, we ought to finalize another addition to our family." T'Chaka told him.

"We would like it for this child to have two older brothers to look out for them when they arrive," Ramonda added with a smile. Harry just looked at them both as they smiled at him while T'Challa was off to the side practically bouncing on his toes.

"I-… I don't know what to say." Harry admitted to himself. Harry had never thought the royal family would go this far. He was on good terms with all of them. He liked to think of himself as an older brother to T'Challa, T'Chaka and Ramonda did act something like his parents, but he had never thought of them as his actual parents. In his mind, James and Lily had always been his parents. He barely remembered them, but they had sacrificed their lives for him.

There was also the fact that he was technically an adult and he hadn't really felt the need to have replacement parents. Of course, was that fair to them though? These people had opened their home to him and provided for him when they didn't have to. Sure, T'Chaka thought he was a message from Bast, but that didn't mean he had to go this far.

Ramonda was a surprise as well. When they had first met, she had been rather cold to him and treated him like an outsider. Of course, she had gotten over the coldness and had seemed to warm up to him over the years, even to the point of mothering him but he still wouldn't expect her to go this far.

Of course, there was also the fact that they had not only said they wished to adopt him, but that they wished for him to be an older brother to whoever Ramonda gave birth to. They trusted him enough for such a position. He was more than grateful, he was honored.

He hadn't been so accepted into a family since the Weasleys. On top of that, the royal family was sticking their neck out for him. He was a foreigner and everyone in Wakanda knew it with a single glance. There were those who would be happy to hear him prove himself unworthy of such honor to validate their own beliefs. There was also something else to consider.

"Say I did accept such an honor, I couldn't possibly be considered a prince or be allowed to inherit anything. Wouldn't this then just cause more problems for you than anything else? I can't imagine a single tribe being okay with this and while I know you don't answer to them, are you sure the grief of doing this is worth it?" Harry asked them both. T'Chaka didn't seem to like the question and frowned.

"I just said I consider you a son, did I not? Do you think I would let any get in the way of either protecting or helping my son as best I could, even the council?" T'Chaka asked him seriously. Harry flinched at that, "As for inheritance, you will be considered a prince, but neither you or any of your future descendants will be allowed to hold the throne. You will be a branch family."

"I did not mean to question your honor or integrity, I simply wanted to make sure you were truly okay with dealing with all the issues I may cause. Believe me when I say that I am deeply touched that you both would think so much of me. I am grateful for the offer, but this is all so much to take in right now. May I-… may I have time to think on this?" Harry asked quietly asked. He didn't even touch on the inheritance portion. They seemed to ease at his words.

"I thought you might say such. Of course, Hadrian, take all the time you need. With that, I think dinner should be concluded so we can all digest what has happened. I will see you both bright and early for classes and training. Come, my love." T'Chaka finished as he and Ramonda stood together.

"Goodnight both of you. Sleep well. Hadrian, please do not feel pressured to accept our proposal. We want you to be part of this family because you want to, not because you have to." Ramonda said kindly as they walked out of the room.

He and T'Challa watched them leave quietly and when they did, T'Challa turned to him.

"I do not understand. Why did you not accept? Do you not wish for us to be a family, to be brothers?" T'Challa asked. Harry shook his head.

"It is not about your family. I would be honored to be part of your family as well as being your brother, but… I still may have family out there. Would it be wrong to simply give up on them and jump into another family when they may be out there waiting or looking for me? Should I forsake them so quickly simply because of my longing for family?" Harry responded, almost talking to himself by the end of his little speech.

"I see. I had not considered such a thought and had not realized how conflicting this might have been for you. I apologize." T'Challa said sincerely. Again, Harry was reminded of how mature T'Challa could be when he chose. He smiled at the boy.

"It is alright. I will have to think about it further, but either way, I want you to know I will always consider you a brother T'Challa." Harry told him. The boy ducked his head down at his words and Harry could practically feel the boy's embarrassment from his words.

"Yes, well, I shall see you tomorrow… brother." T'Challa finished before walking away. With him gone, Harry moved down to his room.

 _Several Days Later_

Harry was once more walking through the city with his guards as he made his way to the outskirts of the city to enter the jungle surrounding it for Nala.

"I hear our King and the Queen have offered to adopt you," Amuya said to him as she walked next to him. Harry looked at her for a moment before nodding.

"Yes, they did," Harry responded as he kept walking.

It had been several days since they had done so and Harry had still not given a response. If he were honest with himself, he wanted to say yes, but he just wasn't positive about the decision yet. He still felt like he was betraying the memory of his parents by taking on new ones.

"I see. And you are conflicted about the choice because of your feelings about your original parents?" Amuya asked him. Harry said nothing at that, but nodded slowly in response, wondering how she saw through him so easily.

"I have never known the joy of being a parent, but if I was one and I could no longer watch over my child, I would feel better knowing there was someone taking care of them as I would. I do not know if I could rest easy knowing they were alone out there somewhere." Amuya said to him. Harry blinked owlishly at those words before processing it.

"You think my parents would want me to accept," Harry stated, though the way his voice pitch changed made it sound like he was asking a question.

"I can not speak for your parents Hadrian, all I can do is tell you what I would do if it were me and my own child. At this point, only you know anything about your parents." She responded easily. Harry thought about that and thought about what his parents would say If they knew him to be in this situation. He didn't need to think hard. His mother would tell him to go through with it without a second thought, his father would say the same and probably joke for Harry not to forget them as if it were even possible.

"You may be right, Amuya. You may be right…" Harry said to her as he trailed off.

"I do not like how you sound so surprised by such a fact," Amuya told him with a playful growl. That brought Harry out of his mood and he laughed at her.

 _That Night_

Harry walked into the living room where T'Chaka and Ramonda were cuddled together on the couch and relaxing together. Harry walked slowly up to them.

"My king, my queen," Harry said as he greeted them both with a bow. Both T'Chaka and Ramonda looked up and smiled at Harry, who fidgeted under their gaze. For once, he actually felt the age he was physically.

"Hello, Hadrian. It is unusual for you to seek us out now. I assume you wish to talk about something?" T'Chaka asked him. Harry nodded, but took a moment to steel his nerves. He slowly reached into the pockets of the trousers he was wearing and pulled out the adoption papers before handing them over.

"If it is still alright, I would like to accept your offer for adoption," Harry said softly. In another moment, he was suddenly in the air and being hugged as T'Chaka made a whooping noise and Ramonda laughed as she stood as well before joining in on the hug. T'Chaka looked at him.

"Welcome to the family… My son."


	7. Chapter 7

_1995,_

Harry looked down at the adorable little baby girl gurgling in happiness in his arms. Little Shuri was going on one now and was growing every day. Harry had never had any real siblings, the closest being the Weasleys and Hermione. He had always thought of them as the closest thing to his family that he could really remember, but as soon as he saw Shuri, he knew the difference.

 _Several Months Previous_

 _Harry walked into the hospital room with a palpable excitement along with T'Challa. The first thing he had seen was Ramonda looking tired, but happy laying in the only medical bed in the room. Harry immediately zoomed in on the bundle of white blankets she was holding protectively in her arms. She smiled as she saw T'Chaka lead them into the room._

" _T'Challa, Hadrian, I would like you to meet your little sister, Shuri." Ramonda said as she held the baby closer to them so they could see her. Harry looked down and felt stunned. Little Shuri was sleeping so soundly and she looked so adorable wrapped in her blankets and snuggled comfortably in her mother's arms._

 _T'Challa made an exclamation of joy at seeing her and started to jump in excitement while Harry couldn't help but continue to stare at the baby. She was so precious looking, like a puppy._

" _Would you like to hold her? You will have to be careful." Ramonda said as she made to hand it off to T'Challa. His new brother took the baby very carefully and looked down at her._

" _Hello little sister. It is your big brother T'Challa. Welcome to the world!" T'Challa said in Xhosa as he smiled down at the girl. He heard a gurgling noise in response as the baby seemed to hear a voice aimed at her. T'Challa laughed before handing the baby off to Harry._

 _Harry gently took the bundle and looked down at the little girl. Seeing her this close took his breath away. This little girl would grow up to be his little sister, someone who would hopefully look up to him and want to be a constant part of their life. Harry suddenly felt a swell of expectation fill his chest._

" _Hello little sister. My name is Hadrian, I am your older brother." Harry said quietly. The baby squirmed for a moment before her eyes opened up and looked directly at him. Harry looked down in shock as she seemed to eye him. Harry looked in her soft brown eyes and was astonished by how much intelligence he saw for a baby. She looked up at him and almost seemed to be evaluating him. She reached out and continued to clench and unclench her fist in a motion as if she were trying to grab something._

 _Harry frowned in confusion and leaned down over her. Immediately she reached out and grabbed his nose. She gurgled in happiness as she held tightly to his nose. Harry raised his eyebrow at the baby as she grabbed him._

" _Quite the strong grip you have. I see you have inherited the same strength as the rest of your family little one." Harry said in amusement as the baby continued to grab him. Harry heard some chuckling from the rest of the family but he ignored it._

' _For the rest of my days, I will protect you with my last breath little one. I shall turn all your enemies to ash!'_

 _Back to present_

Harry looked down at his little sister and watched her smile and laugh up at him. He returned the smile and continued to play with her.

Harry was probably the most used babysitter for Shuri. Her parents were royals and usually very busy. That didn't mean they didn't give her as much love as possible, but they also had other obligations that they had to meet. Harry had stepped up to the plate and had elected to watch her as much as possible.

It was nice for the most part. It allowed him to take a break from his magical studies which had actually been progressing finally. He finally had discovered a possible way in which he could use his magic wandlessly through this planet's natural magic. His progress had been sluggish, but having actual progress in the field was much better than nothing. He could actually use the levitation spell once more and was working on how to expand into other spells.

A loud yawn made him turn from looking down at Shuri to looking over to the lounging form of Nala as she lay beside the crib half-asleep. It had been a whole ordeal to show his parents that Nala would mean little Shuri no harm, but they eventually relented and let her do so, mainly thanks to the king. T'Chaka was confident that the symbol of Bast would not hurt any member of his family. Ramonda had not been so sure, but after a trial run, she had acquiesced to the request as well.

Nala as his familiar, felt and shared in many of his feelings and vice versa. As such, she also had strong familial feelings towards the baby. Shuri absolutely loved the big cat. As soon as Nala had stuck her giant head into the crib for the first time curiously, Shuri had wasted no time in reaching up and pulling on her whiskers. Nala had jumped back in surprise and had avoided putting her face so close to the baby again.

That didn't stop Shuri, of course. Any time she was out of her crib and out exploring anywhere near the big cat, she would crawl towards her as fast as she could to lay out some abuse. Luckily, Nala never seemed bothered by the small child and Harry supposed it was because of how little the baby could actually hurt her.

"Enjoying yourself?"

Harry looked up and watched the Queen enter. He gave her a smile as she entered the room and walked over.

"Of course, I always enjoy spending time with my little sister."

"Well, it's better than you sitting in your room and meditating all the time." Ramonda admonished, though he knew her to be teasing.

"Of all the hobbies and habits that a child my age could have, I would never have thought, meditation would have been the one you complained on."

"I believe there to be an expression, 'Everything in moderation'. Have you heard of it?"

"I have." He admitted reluctantly.

"Good. It is an expression that I believe you could learn lots from." Ramonda said as she sat down with Shuri and started bouncing her on her leg to the amusement of the child.

"I have cut down on my meditation recently."

"Only because you have been too busy watching over the little one here." Ramonda pointed out with a raised eyebrow. Harry sputtered indignantly.

"I can't believe this, 'Hadrian, you meditate too much. Harry you watch over Shuri for us too much.' You know, most people are just grateful that their child is so normal and well-behaved. I know this, I walk the streets every day and listen to angry parents running after uncontrolled children." Harry growled, though with his childlike vocal chords, it sounded cute more than anything else, even to his ears.

"So, you admit to knowing yourself to be a strange boy?" Ramonda questioned.

"Only in the best ways. I don't see you tell T'Challa to stop sparring all the time." He pointed out.

"He does other things besides spar." Ramonda pointed out right back to him. Harry grimaced; it was definitely true too. T'Challa did spar a lot but he did a lot of other things too. He studied and he hung out with that river tribe girl any chance he could. If they weren't so young, Harry would think his dear little brother had a crush on the girl, but he wasn't quite sure he would call it that quite yet.

"That he does I suppose. He's getting quite old as well. I assume you will be starting his lessons on the politicking his station will require soon?" Harry asked.

"You mean both of your lessons." Ramonda said back easily. Harry looked back in shock.

"Me? I was under the impression I was not going to be within the political dealings of Wakanda and I was more of a prince in name."

"Just because you cannot inherit the throne does not mean you will have no political obligations. You will still be expected to aid T'Challa and Wakanda as a whole."

Harry thought about what she said. It made sense, but given his circumstances in this country, he had assumed he would mainly be treated more as an honored guest than an actual prince. He wondered how the Council of the various tribes would react to dealing with him and actually having to listen to what an outsider said.

"I understand. I will have to make sure I will be prepared then. In the meantime, I was wondering if I could have a small allowance." Harry asked quietly. He hated asking for money for any reason. Unfortunately, it was necessary if he ever wanted to start to have an influence outside of just Wakanda. He had been planning to wait a little longer but knowing he was going to be actively involved in politics moved up to the timetable.

"Allowance? Is there something you wished to buy?" She asked, confused. Harry shook his head.

"No, I am planning to use the money and start learning how to manage finances. Possibly in stocks and investments. I have read much on the subject, but I wish to put some knowledge to the test." Harry responded truthfully.

"Interesting. How much are you requesting and how much time do you believe you will need to make a profit. Also, do you plan to invest in Wakandan or worldwide?" She asked.

"As much as you are willing to give me. I am planning on worldwide." Harry said back surprised at how well she seemed to be taking it.

"Why do you wish to involve yourself in things outside of Wakanda?" Ramonda asked curiously.

"If I invest in just Wakanda, then all I get is profit. If I invest outside, I will get both profit and selective influence in certain businesses in the future that could come in handy." Harry told her.

"Interesting. Very well, I will give you 500 dollars and you may use it how you wish. However, if you cannot turn some sort of profit, do not expect more though if you lose it all. If you wish for more money, you will need to show your previous profit and statistics on what you need the money for." Ramonda told him. Harry raised both his eyebrows in shock.

"Just like that?"

"You are a smart kid Hadrian and beyond that, you have never asked T'Chaka or me for anything. In fact, I don't think you like having to ask for anything from anyone. I doubt you would have asked if you could have found a way to do it yourself." Ramonda said, giving him a look. Harry actually blushed at that.

No matter what he looked like, Harry was still an adult in his mind. Due to his physiology and current mindset he was having an easier time with all of the issues being a child presented, but there were some things he just couldn't change about himself. He had always had to rely on himself and not doing so made him uncomfortable.

"Yes, well… I wouldn't want to be a bother." Harry said quietly.

"Hadrian, you are our son. Being able to aid you brings both me and the King great joy. You hardly ever ask for anything and it would be my absolute pleasure to help you with this if it means that much." Ramonda said as she smiled at him softly. Harry ducked his head down.

"Thank you." Harry finished.

"It is nothing Hadrian. Now, why don't you go run along and do something productive. I will take over watching Shuri from here." She told him. Harry nodded and smiled.

"I suppose I can finally catch up on some meditation." Harry grumbled good naturedly. His adopted mother gave him a stink eye when those words left his mouth.

"Maybe something outside." She suggested.

"No thanks, I think I will stick to meditation. Good bye, I will see you at dinner." Harry said as he walked quickly out of the room.

"Harry…" he heard her call from behind him in exasperation. Harry chuckled as he made his way back to his room with Nala on his heels.

 _Several Months Further_

Harry stood in the forest surrounding the capital as he let the natural magic in the air flow through him. It had taken years of research and testing, but he believed he had finally figured out the solution to his issues. The initial tests had been going well and he thought he had finally figured out how to implement his own magic through nature itself.

He had been going about the situation all wrong. He had been trying to use the nature magic in the air as If it were a wand. He would try to exert his will outwards and get the planet's magic to respond and it had never worked. The planet was too massive too control even a part of the magic.

Instead of trying to control, he needed to stop thinking of himself as the caster and start thinking of himself as the wand. He would take the nature magic within himself and intermingle it with his own. He would then unleash it outwards. He was the focus for nature and while it flowed through him, he would give it direction so it would focus into a spell.

He was so confident that this would finally be the answer to all his problems, but he had run into a few hiccups. For one, the planet's magic was massive and unless he maintained a near perfect amount of control over how much he let enter his body, he could possibly explode, or implode, he wasn't sure which. It was like trying to pour an ocean into a teacup and not let it overflow by a single drop.

Luckily, his years and years of meditating and attuning his body had given him the control he had not actually known he would need for this. The next part was a little more complicated and not so easily fixed. Nature magic was much more potent that his own by several degrees. Even the simplest spells would most likely be amplified to a terrifying margin. He was always a powerful wizard and the concept of holding back was not new to him, but he doubted even he could hold back the effects of any spell he cast for the first time.

To counter this, he had waited until he was finally given permission to go out in the surrounding forest alone. It helped that he kept sneaking off and returning in perfect health. Eventually his parents were convinced he did not need an escort every place he went. Of course, they had been lying, they had stuck more discreet followers with him, but Harry wasn't exactly new to losing a tail and his small size and ability to sense them made it rather easy to lose them. His parents couldn't question him about where he went without admitting they had placed secret followers on him.

Harry looked around the forest and saw Nala lounging on a tree branch looking down at him. She would look like a classic lazy cat but he could see the intent with which she was watching him. She was very curious about where this would go.

"Are you ready girl? Seriously, I am going to take this as literally slow as possible. I don't want to vaporize myself." Harry said out loud.

"…"

"You're right. I probably should start with just a simple levitation. Alright, three, two, one…"

Harry opened the flood gates and let the magic flow into his body. He stiffened for a moment before taking a deep breath to calm himself. Accessing so much nature magic at once directly within his body was… not uncomfortable but certainly felt strange.

He felt it merge with his own and he focused on making sure it didn't overwhelm him. He then pushed his own thoughts into the magic. It was different then how he normally wielded magic. Normally a wizard would exert his will onto the world around him to make things so, but that was rather hard without a wand to focus his power. In this instance, it was more of him… asking? It was like suggesting something to someone who had no plans in the first place. They would simply take on the suggestion as their own if that made sense.

Harry watched for a split second at the forest floor littered with leaves and twigs and wood. He blinked or at least he must have because suddenly the ground seemed to monumentally change in an instant. He was confused at first on what was missing before he placed it.

The ground was only dirt now. Of course, it was always dirt, but now there was nothing on top of it. The leaves he had been looking had disappeared and with them so had the twigs and fallen branches that had once covered the floor. He blinked for a moment at what he was seeing. The ground was now completely barren.

He frowned as he looked around. Everything within a ten-foot radius of him on the floor had seemed to disappear. Had he messed up the spell? Did he accidently cast a banishing charm on the floor instead? No, he would have seen them still. It looked more like they had vanished into thin air, like they had been vaporized or something similar.

"Now… that's not right is it? I was quite confident I had cast it right…"

Harry was dragged from his musings when he heard Nala make a low and deep growl. He looked up and saw Nala, no longer lying down, but staring up into the tree line above. Harry looked up at and squinted and tried to see what she was looking up at. He stared for a moment until he finally saw it. They blended in so well that he almost missed it, but there they were, 30 feet above his head. All the twigs, leaves and branches just floating lazily in the air.

His eyes widened as he processed fully what he was looking at. The levitation spell had worked, but even with him holding back, everything near him had been lifted off the ground. Not only had they been levitated off the ground, but they also had moved so fast that he hadn't even seen them move. It was almost like they teleported.

"… Holy shit."

 _Several Days After_

Harry had practiced and practiced at every chance he could, but he had made little progress. He had reduced the radius around him with his levitation to only seven feet, but he had not been able to reduce the height much and he doubted he would be able to.

He had decided to keep on that spell since Levitation was a spell that relied on how much the caster put into it almost exclusively. So, it would be a good spell to gauge how much control he actually had. He only did so when he went to the forest, he wouldn't dare risk it anywhere in the tower. He knew his room wasn't bugged but many of the rooms and hallways were. Not only that, but there were also the various scanners in the building. He wasn't sure if Wakanda had something that would be able to detect magic, but he didn't wish to find out, at least, not yet.

"What are you doing? Not meditating again?" T'Challa asked as he entered the room. Harry had felt him coming and smiled.

"Something like that. What have you been up to?" He asked the boy. T'Challa frowned as Harry stood and walked with him out of the room to roam the halls.

"It just had another lesson with father on the politics of being a King. It's… more annoying than I thought."

" _What parts? Perhaps I can help."_ Harry asked in Xhosa to his brother.

" _He was talking about settling a dispute between tribes. One in which there is no clear answer. Or how sometimes It is clear, but I could be accused of favoritism or some other thing. Apparently, it happens often and will definitely be something I have to deal with."_

" _It's easy. Examine the facts, if some are missing, then have an investigation into the truth. Then choose what you feel to be right. After that, if you feel you may have left a bad impression on the opposing party, have a sit down, over a meal if you can, and explain why you did what you did. Go on show why you did not wish to necessarily say they were wrong but you had to choose the better option. Then perhaps speak on how you could move on from there to possibly make it up to them so they no longer feel slighted."_

" _You think that would work?"_

" _It does not matter. It's not about if it works or not, people just want to see you put in the effort to be on their side. When you can't they at least will understand that you only do what you think is best and that you are a man of honor."_

" _I see. But what if they don't understand. What if they want to be angry?"_

Harry stopped at that and T'Challa stopped with him. He gave a faint smile to the boy. He was glad that he already understood that sometimes there was just no way to win. It was a lesson even some adults didn't learn until it was too late.

" _Life is simple. You do your best and you let Fate sort out the rest. If they want to be angry, then let them. But if you tried to help and they continue to want to throw a tantrum, it would be best to remind them that your first duty is to be a King and not their ally. Your duty is to the people, to do what it best for them, not for any individual tribe. Stand firm and weather the storm. That is all you can do."_ Harry told him.

T'Challa looked like he could understand what he was saying, but he seemed to have a look in his eyes that said how he wasn't exactly pleased with the situation. After a moment, his eyes cleared and he looked at Harry.

"What about you? I know you have been assigned lessons on political spheres with mother." T'Challa questioned.

"I seem to have somewhat of a mind for politics, but that doesn't mean I like it. The basis of politics is people disagreeing and arguing with each other. I hate arguing with people. One on one, you can keep it civil, there's no back stabbing or secret alliances. That's all politicking is. But one day, you will be King and if I have to metaphorically rip your enemies to shreds, you know I will do it." Harry told him. It must have come out darker than expected because it seemed to have surprised T'Challa.

"What if I did something you didn't agree with?" He asked. Harry shrugged.

"It depends. Wakanda operates in a lot of ways I don't necessarily agree with yet that is the way it chooses to operate and it is not my place to question it. As long as I can see your reasoning and I am not against it morally, I shall follow." Harry told him. His brother seemed to absorb this.

"No."

"No?"

"No."

Harry looked at the boy in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Harry, I never want you to conceal your true opinion from me, especially when it is something I don't want to hear. I am not stupid, I know the type of things the council Is going to want and what they will counsel. I don't think I'll need another yes man." T'Challa said to him.

Harry felt a rush of pride for knowing this boy. T'Challa was so young yet he was also intelligent which was good. He was going to be a King one day, he would need to be intelligent If he wanted to be a good leader.

"If that is your wish, my King." Harry teased. T'Challa smiled and shoved him.

"Not a king yet." T'Challa said right back.

"And hopefully won't be for a long time,"

T'Challa nodded at that. They continued to wander aimlessly until they were on the bottom floor of the building. They were about to leave when he heard his name get called.

"Hadrian."

He turned around and saw T'Chaka approaching looking serious. Hadrian waited for him to approach and T'Challa did as well.

"Hadrian may I speak with you briefly, alone?" T'Chaka asked kindly.

"Of course. Give me a moment brother." Harry said to T'Challa. He nodded and moved to the exit. Harry looked back at T'Chaka.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Did you happen to be in the forests North of the city recently?" He asked. Harry scrunched his face in thought even though he already knew the truth.

"I believe so, why? Am I in trouble?" He asked T'Chaka.

"No, not at all. I was just wondering if you had noticed anything unusual when you were out on your walks?" He asked him.

"Hmm. No, I don't think so at least. Is there something specific you mean?" He asked. T'Chaka shook his head.

"I am afraid to say no. Look Hadrian, we have been getting strange readings from in the forest recently on our sensors and while they look to be some weird glitch in our system. I am going to have to assign you an escort again while you and Nala are going on your walks outside the city. Just until we get this fixed." He said kindly. Harry nodded.

"Of course, Father." He said agreeably.

On the inside, Harry was starting to panic. He understood the power play that this really was by T'Chaka. If the glitches kept going, then that meant that Harry was innocent but if it didn't then that meant Harry was responsible. So now, the question was how could he still practice magic, but do it without being caught as well as cause those glitches in areas he wasn't at.

That was going to be troublesome to say the least, unless…

"What did he want?" T'Challa asked.

"Oh, just to tell me of some strange readings in the jungle around us and that for the time being, I would need an escort if I decide to go out." Harry told him.

"Oh, that is unfortunate." T'Challa said and he seemed to mean it.

"It is alright. I understand the reasoning behind it. Besides, I have thought on going out less and less. Nala no longer finds the prey as challenging as she used to. Now she is more interested in playing with Shuri."

"Not getting jealous, are you?" T'Challa teased. Harry just shook his head in amusement.

"You're the one who should be jealous. Until Shuri was born, you were her favorite sibling of mine. Now you're back to third place.

The boys laughed as they left the building for the city.

 _Several More Days Later_

Harry stood as he took a deep breath and prepared himself. He was about to attempt his first ward since arriving on this planet and regaining access to his magic. It would require a lot magic, but it was also one that would shield his magic from the outside world, he hoped it would shield his magic from the outside world from now on.

He wasn't sure why he hadn't thought of it originally, he suspected it was because he had never had a real reason to use the word before. Most wizards couldn't really sense magic and had no means to trace it. Some, like Dumbledore, had some scrying abilities they could use, but even a few wards could keep that out.

Along with these wards, he would also place several illusory based ones on the room. One would be to show him asleep in case anyone was to check on him and the other was still a work in progress.

He took a deep breath and let the magic flow through him. He cast quickly, anchoring the wards to his bed and spreading it out from there. He was surprised how little magic it took him to place the ward, of course he was barely using his own magic as anything more than directions for the nature magic but still. It was one thing to know something and it was another entirely to truly experience it.

He had to cut the magical flow off quickly before the wards expanded too far. He then walked to each corner of his room and bent the wards so they were forming a perfect square that perfectly matched his room's shape. Nodding in satisfaction, he started with the next wards. These were the illusory ones, but he would have to be careful as to not let them go past the already established ward barriers otherwise there was a chance they might be detected.

He cast several types of illusion wards over the room and then tied them all back into a minor compulsion ward that would make all who entered wish to leave him alone once they saw the illusion of him. It was rather complicated to tie multiple wards back to one single ward without a wardstone but he could manage it.

The last part of his little plan was also going to be the hardest. So hard in fact, he wouldn't even think of normally doing it if not for the power boost he had by using the planets natural magic. He was going to attempt to expand his room without breaking the wards already in place. He would have to do it little by little until it was the correct size.

Wards could handle expansion done over time where they slowly became used to the strain, but all at once was dangerous. It could cause a collapse of both the wards and the expansions at once, which usually caused an explosion of magic that was painful if not deadly.

He moved to behind his bed and started to slowly expand the wall outwards. He could only go about one foot per minute, which was agonizingly slow. He made sure the wards had time to adjust before pushing out further.

He did this for a little more than an hour and a half before the wall was near a hundred feet back. He moved back and set the perimeter behind his bed, still so it would not expand the side walls in his from their original spots, only the walls behind his room would expand. This way he would have another room hidden behind his own.

Another couple of hours later into the night, he had had an entire room of quite a size to use as he saw fit. Now, he needed to install a false wall where his normal one had been. This was the easy part. Conjuration of a whole wall wasn't normally easy, but with the huge amounts of magic he now had access to, he could probably easily do it. With the fact that there was most likely no way to sense his magic, he easily cast and watched the wall get formed right in front of him based on his memory.

He smiled as he looked at what he just built. The only difference of this wall was the hidden door on the left side covered by an illusion to blend it in with the rest of the wall. With that done, he was finally finished.

He looked at his handiwork and gave a nod of happiness as he looked at it all. His room was now fully protected from detection as evidenced by the fact that no one, had shown up at his room. He also wouldn't need to go to the forest to train anymore. He even had an idea to throw off the trail T'Chaka was following.

With all his work done, he laid himself gently down on his bed and drifted off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

_1998_

It had been a few years now since Harry had finally been able to access his magic and had built a training room behind his bedroom. A lot of things had changed in those years as he and T'Challa had entered their preteens and then, finally, their teens. It had seemed their responsibilities had tripled overnight. Their classes had gotten harder and now included more complex subjects. They were learning things like advanced Algebra, Trigonometry, and had recently started on Physics.

Harry hated it for the most part. He had never learnt most of these subjects in Hogwarts, and while he had gone back and learned some things on his own with Hermione's help, he had never gone past what most would consider a high school level. T'Challa had finally started to outpace him, at least in some subjects. In things like philosophy, and politics, as well as theoretical formulas, were much easier for him then T'Challa. He had done a lot of that when he worked on spell creation, and while magic had its own set of formulas it worked off of, learning new formulas wasn't as hard with his mindset.

Along with their studies, their work out regime had been increased and Harry had been getting more and more bruises. Luckily, he now had magic and was able to heal at a much quicker rate. Actually, one of the things he was thinking of experimenting with is instantaneous healing. He knew nature magic was capable of it, he just needed to figure out how he could either channel the magic subconsciously or create a runic array that would detect wounds on his body and would channel nature magic into said wound on its own.

Either way, he was at least getting better. T'Chaka had more and more trainers come in and they even fought against other children from different tribes. Harry had not really seen much improvement in his fighting until he had finally fought someone besides T'Challa and Okoye. As it turned out, those two were both beasts when it came to battle and not all tribe children who were being trained were even close to them. Harry had quickly found out that, as far as skill went, he was actually one of the more advanced students and it was only due to his constant training with only T'Challa for company that had made it seem like he was not so talented in the art of combat.

At the moment, T'Challa and he sat quietly on a meeting T'Chaka was having with the council. T'Challa was doing his best to pay attention, but Harry knew the boy was bored. Harry himself found the entire thing boring as well. It was a discussion about a neighboring country and aid program to send them some basic supplies. Of course, they would not be sending anything advanced but food and clothes were easy enough.

It seemed it was the amount that was under discussion. T'Chaka wanted to send more than the council thought would be a good idea and they seemed to try to talk him down to a more reasonable number. T'Chaka seemed to be considering it.

"I do not understand. Why would we not send as much as we can afford to?" T'Challa whispered to him.

"It is not so simple. Remember, Wakanda is viewed as a poor country to the rest of the world and sending too much would look suspicious from a country that is supposedly low on funds themselves. At first it may not be looked to heavily upon, but these things eventually build up over time and other countries might start to look with suspicion at how we seemingly have so many supplies to give away and why our supposedly poor countrymen are so alright with their government giving it away." Harry explained to him.

"That does not seem fair," T'Challa commented with a frown. Harry shrugged.

"All actions have a consequence. You could send more and it could be discovered that Wakanda is one of the most powerful countries in the world. Suddenly we would be looked at to solve problems we had no stake in. People expect those with power to do something and like to seemingly blame them when things do not work out. Now, Wakanda has to deal with the scorn of outsiders who think they have some right to have a say in what goes on in Wakanda. And that's only the political side. The bigger problem would, of course, be our source of Vibranium." Harry told him.

"I understand, it just seems wrong to let politics get in the way of doing the right and wrong thing," T'Challa said.

"Doing the right thing has consequences. Not to say you shouldn't strive to do so when possible, but always remember that the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

"I suppose." T'Challa did not sound entirely convinced, but he let the subject drop as they continued to watch the meeting. It seemed they had finally agreed on an amount and were talking about some other issue. Eventually, it became time for them to talk on sensitive matters of state and T'Chaka told them they could leave. Harry understood, of course, it was not a suggestion but a demand.

"Well, what shall we do for the rest of the day?" T'Challa asked.

"I must take Nala out, would you like to join me?" Harry asked. T'Challa smiled and nodded. They went down to the floor where his room was located and Harry noticed Nala was missing.

"Hmm, she must have left to go play with Shuri. Let us go and see." Harry told him as they left once more to go to Shuri's room. Indeed, Nala was there and was playing with Shuri. Harry smiled at the sight of his familiar that seemed to be roughhousing with his little sister.

"Hello Shuri, having fun with Nala?" Harry asked. Shuri looked up and smiled as they approached.

"Harry, T'Challa!" She yelled as they ran over and tried to tackle them. T'Challa smiled and grabbed her before lifting her in the air.

"Ah. _And how is my little sister doing today? Staying out of trouble I hope?"_ T'Challa asked, switching to Xhosa. It had been a surprise on how quickly Shuri had picked up the two languages. Actually, she seemed to pick up everything rather fast. She was a very smart child and Harry couldn't wait to see how her mind developed as she grew older.

" _Good! I've been playing with Nala since mother is taking a nap."_ She said with the excitement of a three-year-old. Harry chuckled at that. Ramonda loved Shuri fiercely, but she sometimes had trouble keeping up with the child. She had finally gotten comfortable enough to let Nala be with Shuri alone and Harry was happy for it. It made sure that both his sister and familiar never had to wallow alone because others were busy.

"We were just about to take Nala for a walk. Would you like to join us?" Harry asked her. She nodded her at a speed that almost worried him. Nala walked over and nuzzled into his side as a greeting. He put his hand behind her ear and gave her some scratches that seemed to please her.

With that, they all left the room and headed down the building so they could walk into the city. As they were leaving, several guards joined them and surrounded them, but at a distance. Harry did not see Amuya among them so she was most likely still at the meeting with the King and the council.

They walked among the city and enjoyed the sights. Shuri was holding the hand of T'Challa while Nala walked next to him. Over the years, the stares from the others in the Capital had ceased it was no longer considered a strange occurrence to see him out walking a giant panther. Of course, he was also glad that the citizens no longer looked at him with apprehension and seemed to have accepted him. There were still some, of course. There was a boy from the border tribe who T'Challa got along with that did not seem to like him. Harry didn't mind, it's not like he and T'Challa needed to have the same friends.

Harry frowned. Now that he thought of it, he didn't really have any friends outside of T'Challa that was his age. He and Okoye were friendly enough, but it was more of a friend of a friend type of relationship. They never hung out with just each other. T'Challa was friends with all sorts, and his little crush with the river tribe girl had seemed to grow as he thought it would.

T'Challa wouldn't admit it and Harry thought it was adorably amusing. Their parents seemed to agree with him on the matter, but, unfortunately, had turned that particular conversation onto him.

" _What about you Hadrian, do you have your eye on anyone in particular?" Ramonda asked with interest. Harry just gave her a deadpan look before shaking his head._

" _No, I haven't really thought about such things," Harry told his adopted mother._

" _Really? You know you're getting older. It is perfectly natural to start having feelings and… urges." She said, giving him a look. Harry stared directly back at her with a frown without blinking for what felt like several minutes._

" _I would prefer if we skipped this particular conversation and postponed it until never," Harry told her. Ramonda's lips thinned._

" _Harry, it is a parent's duty to make sure their child is properly educated on such topics. If you are uncomfortable with talking with me on this then I will have your father…"_

" _I am more than educated about sex and the opposite sex. I am aware that sex is pleasurable and that wanting to have sex is perfectly natural for someone my age. I am also aware though that I need to make sure to control myself and not rush into anything and should be waiting several years before I even consider such a thing in a relationship. I do not need a talk on this." Harry tried to stress. In truth, Harry found the whole thing a little strange. It wasn't like he was attracted to girls his age as that would be rather strange._

 _In truth, his mind still hadn't progressed from that of a young adult and he preferred a woman who was around the same age he felt mentally. This worked out well considering he wouldn't want to feel like a pedophile._

" _Well, perhaps we will postpone it a little longer until you're ready, but make no mistake, we will be talking about it at some point," Ramonda said giving him a look that told him there would be no arguing this point._

 _Harry groaned as he tried to escape the room._

Back to the present, Harry watched the stalls selling various items. He could actually buy things if he wanted now. The investments he had been making had finally been paying off and he had quite a bit of pocket change now. He had no longing to spend it though, he would keep building it up and hopefully one day, he would be able to buy enough to have a say in company decisions. Right now, he was interested mostly in a company called Stark Industries. They seemed to lead the world in innovation, although they were big weapons developers at the moment. Still, he found their work very interesting.

"Hadrian." Harry looked over and saw T'Challa was looking at him patiently. He felt a little embarrassment over being caught lost in his thoughts even though T'Challa was very much use to it at this point.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" He asked. T'Challa smiled good-naturedly.

"There is going to be a festival tonight. Do you think you will wish to go?" T'Challa asked. Harry racked his brain for a moment before remembering what he was talking about. Today would be the festival that celebrated Bast the panther goddess. Harry scrunched his face. He wasn't exactly Bast's biggest fan since it was technically her fault he was in this predicament, but it might be disrespectful not to go as well.

"I shall make an appearance I suppose." Harry mused.

"I and some of the other tribe children have thought to meet up, would you like to join us?" T'Challa asked. Harry frowned at that.

"No thank you. They are your friends and I think I would feel awkward being around them more than anything. I appreciate you asking me though." Harry said, giving his brother a smile. T'Challa frowned, but nodded his acceptance, probably already expecting the answer.

"You should probably learn how to make friends besides me at some point, you know." He said. Harry was taken back at how seriously he said it.

"Have you been talking to your mother?" Harry asked with suspicion. He looked confused by that.

"Talk to her about what?" T'Challa asked. Harry shook his head.

"Never mind. The friendship between people should come naturally, not be forced. I am confident that when someone comes along who I would be able to form a friendship with, it will feel natural." Harry told his brother. In truth, he doubted he would truly be able to make friends with anyone for at least a few more years. He was older than these children by quite a few years still and if that wasn't bad enough, he was rather busy with his magic.

"If you say so. I just don't want to see you alone forever." T'Challa said with some concern. Harry smiled and placed his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"I am fine T'Challa. I am more than happy and fulfilled with the life I have. Do not worry so much. You're going to get wrinkles and start looking like your father before your twenty if you keep on going like this." Harry teased, trying to lighten the mood. T'Challa smiled back so it seemed to work.

"I am sure father will like to know your opinion on him."

"I would hope he already knows, given how many times I have called him an old man." Harry quipped back. They both broke into laughter before Shuri started dragging them to stalls she wanted to see. They had to occasionally lift her up to see the wares people were selling and T'Challa even bought her a few things. Harry simply watched and talked with the little girl to distract her so she didn't burn through all the money T'Challa owned.

After walking for several miles, they finally returned to the tower as they saw people closing early for the day and starting to prepare for the festival that would be happening that night. The Queen-Mother was waiting for them as they arrived back at their home.

"You couldn't have cut it a little short today?" She asked as she grabbed Shuri by the hand and started leading them back upstairs.

"I could have, but that would not have been fair to Nala," Harry admitted. Ramonda made a 'Hmph' before leading them back up to their rooms.

"I have laid out the clothes you will be expected to wear tonight. Remember, you will be expected to be with me and your father at the beginning of the ceremony and then you may be excused." Ramonda reminded them both. Harry nodded and T'Challa rolled his eyes.

"Yes, mother, you have only told us a hundred times over the past week…" T'Challa mumbled in annoyance.

"What was that?" Ramonda asked dangerously. T'Challa seemed to recognize this.

"Nothing." He said back quickly.

"That is what I thought."

Harry snickered at their back and forth. They made their way up and headed to their separate rooms. Harry looked at his bed and saw a long-sleeved Dashiki shirt. It was black as was customary for the males in the royal family and had an emerald trim going down the middle following the drooping collar. Harry took off his own clothes and slid on the clothes provided for him. He looked himself over in the mirror and walked into the hidden training room behind his own. He then cast a cleaning charm on himself and a simple smell vanity, charm that mimicked that of a cologne he had been fond of in his previous life.

He conjured a temporary mirror since there wasn't one in here and looked himself over again. The only thing that remained was his unnaturally messy hair. He sighed before getting to work on it. He had long suspected his hair had a magic of its own that prevented it from being tamed. In his years after Hogwarts, though, he had discovered a combination of charms that would keep his hair looking somewhat presentable. He cast them and watched as his stood straighter and gained a combed look to it.

With that, Harry banished his mirror and stepped out of the room now that he was finally finished with his look. He didn't like to brag, but he was one good looking thirteen-year-old. He then moved from his bedroom and went to the floor that had the living amenities on it. He saw the King was already there and looking out the window. He turned and looked at Harry. A large smile spread over his face.

"Hadrian, look at you! You are very handsome. Don't tell me there's someone you are trying to impress tonight?" He teased. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Not you too. I already get enough of that from mother." Harry groaned. T'Chaka laughed at his plight.

"Has she given you the talk yet?" He asked him. Harry simply frowned in response. T'Chaka smiled at him.

"You cannot run from this forever, my son. Trust me, once she is set on something, your mother can be more stubborn than Bast herself." T'Chaka warned. Harry just shook his head.

"Something I am more than aware of."

"What are you aware of?" Harry turned and saw Ramonda entering the room and looking at him. She was in a white dress that was only over one shoulder and had beautiful floral patterns on it.

"Of how beautiful you look tonight, of course," Harry said quickly recovering and giving her a smile. She gave him a sly smirk that showed she was more than aware of him trying to cover something up.

"Hmm. Thank you very much, Hadrian, but perhaps you should save your charms for another young lady tonight." She suggested in retaliation. Harry groaned and turned from them. He could hear them both laughing behind him at his reaction. Harry didn't say anything until T'Challa came in with their little sister Shuri. Shuri was dressed in a cute little dress that was white like her mother's but had straps on it and horizontal stripes instead. T'Challa was wearing a very similar outfit to his father and Harry's except T'Chaka's had a golden trim and T'Challa's was silver.

"Ah, look at you, Shuri. You are so pretty." Harry complimented to his little sister. Shuri gave him a big smile showing off all her little teeth.

"What about me brother, am I pretty as well?" T'Challa asked. Harry scoffed.

"You better hope that Nakia likes ugly men," Harry said with a deadpan. Their parents started howling with laughter while T'Challa scowled at him, but couldn't hold back the smile from his words.

"Maybe you're right. You, on the other hand, look like you are dressed to impress tonight. Did you comb your hair, brother? Do tell us which little lucky girl you are planning to sweep off her feet." T'Challa shot back. Harry's smile dropped in he groaned in anticipation.

"He seems to be content on keeping it a secret." Ramonda jumped in.

"There is no secret to keep. Is it so wrong that I occasionally like to dress like I wasn't picked up off the streets?" Harry protested.

"Yes." T'Challa, Ramonda, and T'Chaka all said at the same time.

Harry pouted at their words and walked with a slouch over to Shuri before wrapping her in a hug.

"This is why I love you the most Shuri. You never make fun of me." Harry whined. Shuri giggled and patted him on the head.

"I think you look handsome." She said eagerly.

"Thank you, Shuri, I thought so as well," Harry said back as his family laughed at his antics. When they finally finished with their ribbing of each other, they finally headed up to the landing area on the building where the private airship of the royal family awaited them. He saw Amuya there waiting by the entrance of the ship in ceremonial armor. They greeted her and they all entered the ship before taking off and making the short trip over to the river.

It wasn't that far by foot, but they didn't want to get all sweaty in their clothes. When the doors of the ship finally opened, they were hovering over a barge that seemed to have several thrones for each of them. They walked out and sat on their corresponding thrones with T'Challa and Hadrian next to T'Chaka on one side and Shuri next to her mother on the other side. There were several barges all over the river and smaller boats with tons of people on them. Many of the tribes were dressed in their ceremonial robes while those who didn't identify with one singular tribe wore formal wear of all kinds. There was already dancing and singing going on and it filled the air.

Already people were coming up to the royal family and talking with them, it was mainly other tribe heads but this was a less formal location that was supposed to release and leave behind any tension from the usual setting in which they met. They mainly talked with T'Chaka and Ramonda. T'Challa looked like he was itching to leave already and there were people surrounding Shuri and cooing about how cute she was.

Harry simply sat calmly in his seat as no one had bothered to speak with him on anything either. Occasionally someone would greet him respectfully and he would return it, but other than that, he simply sat there. He made sure not to let any of the boredom he was feeling show on his face. He could be in his room practicing magic, but instead, he had to be here.

Eventually, T'Chaka signaled for the fireworks to start which signaled the official start of the festival. Purple lights exploded in the air over their heads in a beautiful display and Harry allowed himself to marvel at them for a moment before they ended.

With that finished, Harry had technically fulfilled his obligations in being here and could technically leave now. He'd have to leave the river and take the path back to the city himself, but it was only a few miles away and he could do that easily. Of course, he did have to wait a little longer otherwise Ramonda would be upset with him for leaving so early. He waited and even partook in some of the food from various food platters that were walking around and making themselves available.

After a few moments, T'Challa finally got up and left so he could hang out with his group of friends. Harry remained seated for a little longer before he too decided to leave. He bid his parents goodbye and told them he was going to go explore before then going home, which was technically true. He would have to go through several parts of the festival to get back home. The entire walk home and the Capital itself would be full of people partying.

His parents let him go and he was finally off. He walked through the various barges on the river before finally reaching a dock and getting off. He then started walking on the main road back to the Capital. There were people celebrating and partying even on the road. Harry ignored them as best he could.

It took near a hour and a half, but he finally made it back home. It was rather empty but that was to be expected. The only people who should be here right now were those who were left behind to guard the building, and even then, there was a reduced amount.

Harry moved over to the elevator and pushed the button waiting for it to open. He heard the ding when it got there and he stepped in as soon as the doors opened. He turned and raised his arm to push his floor, but froze when his gaze caught a small detail. There was a red print on top of the button that led to the top floor. He eyed it for a moment and decided to think before acting.

He knew it was blood, he had seen enough of it in his previous life to recognize it on sight. It looked relatively fresh from what he could see. However, there was no other blood in the elevator which might mean whoever it was had managed to accidentally cut themselves. Of course, why would they go to the top floor of the building then? The only thing there was the private office of the King.

Harry grunted as it became clearer that someone had likely broken in and was trying to steal something. He pushed the button and the doors slid closed before the elevator started climbing. He quickly cast several notice-me-not charms on himself as well as quieting charms to make sure he would remain unseen and unheard. He also cast a shield charm in front of him in case they noticed him coming and started shooting before seeing no one.

He waited patiently as the elevator climbed to the final floor and made a soft dinging noise to indicate it had arrived. The doors slid open and Harry looked outwards. He was right in that someone might have noticed him approaching, there were various pieces of furniture turned over to cover men and they all had weapons pointed at the elevator. They wielded various weapons, from blade to spears and even the occasional gun. The fact that they didn't seem to discriminate on what they used told Harry that these men were probably some rogue Wakandan Cell. The fact that they had come to T'Chaka's personal office showed they were probably trying to steal information.

" _There is nobody inside?"_

" _Go over and check just to be sure."_

Harry listened to them and stepped out of the elevator so he could move out of the way as one of these terrorists came to inspect the elevator. As he moved around the outer wall of the room. He looked at the defenses these men had. They seemed to be wearing armor, but not Vibranium armor. It looked more like Kevlar. They had various pieces of gear that gave them an urban commando look. He moved behind one of the desks in the room and saw several guards laid out on the floor. He reached out with his magic to try and see if anywhere alive. He grimaced when the diagnostic charm came back as completely negative. They were dead.

Harry moved over behind the desk of the King where one of them was working to hack into the computer. He stayed there as the man who had inspected the elevator came back.

"Nothing. There was blood on the button that may have caused a malfunction. I wiped it off so hopefully, no one will notice." Harry was surprised as the man switched to English. His English was reminiscent of that spoken in America. It had a certain slang to it. Were these men spies that had been turned? They were clearly Wakandan but the accent showed they had been in America for a long time. At this point, Harry sent a message to his father on a bracelet he had on his arm. A hologram keyboard appeared with a message bar above the keys. He quickly typed away.

' _Men have broken into your royal office. They are armed with a mix of Vibranium weapons and guns. Kevlar armor. Eight of them. They have killed several guards. They speak Xhosa and English with an American accent. Possibly turned wardogs or spies.'_

Harry sent the message as soon as he finished it and kept his eyes on the men. He was putting his secret of magic in danger of being discovered, but to not do so would mean letting these men get away with murder and possible sabotage of his country. Harry then felt his bracelet vibrate letting him know he received a message. He brought the message up.

' _On the way. Stay away and hide!'_

Harry scoffed. It was a little late for that. A computerized noise sounded off and Harry looked up to see the men had gained access to the computer. He raised his hands and cast a confundus on the man. The terrorist backed up in confusion and started looking around. His fellow men looked back at his strange actions.

" _What is the problem? Did you access the computer or not?"_ One of them demanded quietly. The man he put under his charm looked back with confusion.

" _Computer? I-…"_ The man could not seem to organize any of his thoughts as he continued to look around the room as the rest of his men turned to look at him

"Eh, what's wrong with you, man? Can you get on the computer or not? We have to go, they're going to find out what's happening any minute!" The other man questioned again. He switched back to English and Harry continued to simply watch. He was tapped into the natural magic around him so he could feel the Royal airship arrived and T'Chaka along with several guards were rushing in. He followed their progress as the men started arguing in confusion before one shoved the confused man right into Harry knocking him over.

"What the hell?" The already confused man said as he looked at the area where Harry was. He could see that he was trying to process he hit something but also couldn't see anything. Harry started to panic, if the man thought too deeply and drew the other men's attention, the charm might… Actually, it probably wouldn't. He had forgotten how much more powerful his spells were now by nature backing them up. Sure, enough the man turned back and looked at the one who shoved him who was now trying to go through the computer. At least, until they noticed the elevator was approaching this floor again.

"Shit! _Someone's coming. Goddamn,_ you fucked this up! Everyone get ready!" The man yelled at the man under the confundus before getting everyone to defend the room. Harry started to swirl the magic in his hands and watched the elevator. As soon as it dinged onto the current floor, he let out a powerful magical flashbang causing all the men in the room to fall to their knees and drop their assorted weapons. He also dropped the charms on himself and waited patiently behind the desk. As soon as the door opened, Harry watched T'Chaka jump in the room in his Black Panther armor and stand at the ready for a clear fight. Several Dura Milaje stood behind him with their spears poised for combat.

They looked around confused at seeing all the men on the floor and groaning. Harry was about to say something when he felt himself get violently scooped off the ground and pulled into a powerful bear hug from his father.

"Hadrian, my child, are you alright. Are you hurt? Here, let me see you? Did they hurt you anywhere?" He asked rapidly. Harry shook his head.

"No, I am fine, they didn't know I was in the room. I have been making sure they didn't get what they wanted until you could show up." Harry told him easily. Perhaps it was a little too easily as T'Chaka took off his mask and Harry was taken aback to see the glare on his face.

"What were you thinking? _Did I not tell you to stay away?"_ He demanded in a booming voice. Harry did not back down as most children would though, instead, he frowned.

"You did. But I decided to do what I could to delay them so they would stay in this room until you arrived. This way they would not hurt anyone else, and they would not take the information they were after.

"You could have been killed!"

"And others already had been to try and stop them to protect Wakanda, why should I have done any differently." Harry threw right back.

"They were warriors, trained for this very situation and they still fell. You are but a child who has only had a few years of training!" He said back shaking with anger.

"This has nothing to do with my training. These men wanted to hurt us and our country. I knew I could not engage them so I didn't, instead, I hindered them and waited for you to arrive to deal with them. Being your son is not an excuse to not do the right thing when presented with the opportunity." Harry argued right back getting upset. He was more than able to handle himself and had specifically gone out of his way to stay out of combat because he knew his parents would not be happy. That being said, he could not just let these men get away.

"And if you had died?"

"Then I would have died doing what I believed to be the right thing. Rarely are people so lucky." Harry shot back angrily. T'Chaka looked even angrier as he glared down at him and Harry just looked back at him impassively. T'Chaka turned around and took a deep breath and slowed the shaking in his body. Once he had done so, he turned back around.

"And what of me and your mother? What about T'Challa and Shuri? What about Nala? How would you think we would have felt if you died because you refused to do the smart thing. How would I explain to your brother and sister that you died? Do you think they would be proud you died doing the right thing? No, they wouldn't understand, all they would understand is that their brother was dead and they would never see him again. How do you think that would have affected them? Or did you not think about that in your attempts to 'do the right thing'?" T'Chaka questioned with a hard stare. Harry's mouth dried up at that. It was, admittedly, not something he had thought about.

"I-"

"Your life means something to people besides yourself Hadrian. I would remember that before you do something so foolish again." T'Chaka told him. Harry lowered his head in shame. He knew he wasn't in any real danger, but his family would not understand that. They would worry for him even if they did not need to. It was a new experience for him to have a family that he needed to make sure to come back to.

"Hadrian look at me," T'Chaka commanded. Harry looked up at his adopted father.

"I understand the longing to do the right thing, more than anyone. But sometimes it's about more than just that. You have to think of things besides yourself and your wants. You are a prince, and more than that you are my son. You do not know how much I worried every second for your life as I tried to get here as fast as possible, praying that they would not harm you. Do you understand?" T'Chaka asked him.

Suddenly, the conversation which he had with T'Challa earlier that day flashed through his mind. He grimaced as he realized he was being scolded for the vary thing he had warned his brother against.

"I-… Yes. I am sorry, Father." Harry said quietly. T'Chaka pulled him gently into a hug and they stayed like that for a moment.

"I am glad you understand, my son. I also hope you understand you are grounded for at least a year for your recklessness."

"WHAT."


	9. Chapter 9

_One Day Later_

Harry sat silently in a chair across from both his adopted parents. Ramonda was glaring angrily at him, clearly still upset with him about what had occurred last night and his actions in it. T'Chaka was leaning with his hands clasped in his lap and eyeing Harry with serious speculation.

"You know why you are here, I assume." T'Chaka finally asked. Harry nodded. They wanted to know about last night and how he had stayed hidden and knocked out the terrorist before T'Chaka and his guard had entered the room. Harry had asked to have this meeting just between them as he was not yet ready to reveal all the information to anyone else.

"I do. You want to know what I did last night." Harry said. T'Chaka nodded while Ramonda continued to glare. Harry thought about the best way to say it before deciding it would probably be best to jump headfirst into it.

"I can use magic." Harry finally said seriously. T'Chaka gave him a look of exasperation while Ramonda violently stood up and looked ready to explode.

" _DO YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY. DO YOU THINK WE ARE AMUSED BY YOUR ACTIONS LAST NIGHT. YOUR FATHER AND I ARE JUST ABOUT READY TO-…."_ Ramonda froze and gained an expression of gaping shock as had her husband. The reason was that Harry had summoned a decorative vase from across the room and had it rotate above him slowly. Their eyes did not once leave the vase until he set it down gently in between them.

"… I can do other things too." Harry said hesitantly. In truth, there was no way to tell how mundanes would react to magic. Some thought it was amazing while others hated it with a passion. What was worse, you never really knew until you revealed it.

"What kinds of things," T'Chaka asked after a few moments of silence as they processed what he had just done. At this point, Ramonda had sat back down, but still looked shocked by what she had just witnessed.

"I can make it so I am invisible. I can manipulate things to give me the ability to fly. I can turn one thing into another or simply summon things from thin air. I can make you feel happier than you have ever felt before, or I can make you feel like a thousand knives are digging into your skin. I can do a lot of things." Harry admitted. They would find out about it soon so he didn't bother hiding it.

"And when did you find out you can do these things?" T'Chaka asked. Harry hesitated again at that but decided to continue with the truth.

"Three or four years ago," Harry admitted. Ramonda sucked in air through her nose at that. T'Chaka just frowned.

"Why did you not tell us before?" T'Chaka asked.

"I was afraid of how you would react. I have read about how people have reacted to magic throughout history. I did not want my parents to hate me so soon after accepting me as one of their own." Harry told them. That was a lie, at least partially, he was concerned about what they would think, but not about hating, more that they would use his abilities to try and further help Wakanda. Not that he would be too opposed, he just didn't want to be forced down that path.

"I see," T'Chaka said. Ramonda started to shed some tears and got up and moved over to him. Harry tensed as she neared him, but she wrapped him in a hug and held him close. Harry tentatively wrapped his arms around her to try and comfort her. She continued to weep into him, but he could do nothing to appease her. He waited a little longer before she finally took a step back.

"My son, look at me." Harry did immediately.

"Your father and I love you very much and there isn't anything that could change that. Especially not this. Do you understand?" She asked.

"I do," Harry answered.

"We need to figure out where to go from here. I will look into this personally and see if I can find anything about magic users to have you possibly trained in this." T'Chaka told him.

"Please do not. I do not need training in my magic as it comes to me naturally. Looking for others, although, they probably do not exist, will just alert them to my presence which is the last thing I want. At least, not until I am older." Harry told him. T'Chaka seemed to be weighing that in his mind.

"I agree with Hadrian. If he says he can handle it by himself, then I see no reason to possibly expose us to a force we know nothing about." Ramonda said, backing him up. T'Chaka sighed but nodded.

"Very well. Ramonda, I would like to speak to Hadrian alone for a moment." T'Chaka said growing serious. Ramonda looked like she wanted to argue, but Harry stopped her by placing his hand on her arm gaining her attention. He gave her a nod showing her it was alright and she seemed to back down. She stepped away and went into a different room. Harry looked back at his father. He had a feeling he knew what this was about.

"Hadrian… about what you heard last night."

" _You call us traitors because we fight for people more than our own who suffer because you do nothing!" The terrorist said now that he was placed in restraints and sandwiched by guards. T'Chaka simply looked at them._

" _And by doing so you place your own people in danger. More than that, you have willingly killed them for your own goals." T'Chaka said right back. The man gained a deep scowl._

" _You speak of killing your own people, but you are no more innocent than I am! Worse even! We saw N'Jobu's body, we know how he died. You kill-"_

" _Silence!"_

" _You left him there like he was nothing!"_

" _Take him from my sight!"_

" _You are the traitor! You are the true plague on our people. Bast will forsake you for what you have do-" The elevator door closed before he could finish._

"I heard nothing except the ravings of a madman who willingly killed his own people and tried to betray his nation by stealing and selling secrets," Harry said easily but giving his father a meaningful look. T'Chaka nodded slowly, understanding what Harry said, but he gained a sorrowful look.

"I-… I didn't want to. I just-"

"You do not have to explain yourself to me. I know you would have not done it if you had a choice. I know you to be a good man." Harry said, interrupting him. T'Chaka smiled at his words, but Harry knew a fake smile when he saw one. The choice weighed on T'Chaka's mind to this day and he himself wasn't sure of the person he was. Harry approached him.

"I cannot say it will get easier to bear because, honestly, I do not know if it will. What I do know is, the choice has been made and you have to live with it. Do not let your choice destroy you." Harry told him. T'Chaka nodded, but he still racked but some invisible force. If it was true what he did, then it would probably weigh on him for the rest of his days. Harry watched him in silence as the man regained himself slightly.

"He had a son," T'Chaka admitted. It looked like he had wanted to admit that for a long time.

"You left him?"

"Yes."

They sat in silence for a moment as he digested that. Harry could feel the confliction welling up inside of himself. It was one thing to be forced to kill your brother, a decision he could understand under the circumstance. Leaving a child was another matter entirely. The child was innocent of any crime his father may have committed. Of course, trying to raise a child in the home of the people who murdered his father was also a recipe for disaster.

Despite this, Harry knew he would have done so. He would have raised the nephew as one of his own. When he got older he would explain the situation with his father and hoped he understood given everything Harry had taught him. That being said, he understood at least somewhat on why T'Chaka had left him, even if he did not agree with it.

"I see." Was all Harry could say to him.

Ramonda was allowed to enter the room again after they both composed themselves. She looked suspicious as her gaze switched between both of them, but she said nothing. After that, the talks went back to more simple things, namely his magic. They would leave it up to him on when to tell his siblings as long as it was soon. He would also be given time to train so he would no longer sneak around and do so.

It seemed like it was finally going a little better now.

 _Year 2000_

Harry watched his brother as he laid his hand gently on the Black Panther armor. An armor that he would someday be wearing. T'Challa looked absolutely fascinated by his father's armor.

"Hmm. You look absolutely smitten brother." Harry said, interrupting his moment. T'Challa turned and scowled.

"Maybe, but at least I'll be able to wear the armor." T'Challa teased back at him Harry scoffed.

"I don't need it, I could just conjure an impenetrable shield to protect me." Harry shot back.

"Yes yes, I'm sure you could. Sadly, us mere mortals that lack magic have to settle for more simple protections." He said with a smirk as he looked back at the armor. Harry chuckled at that as no one who understood even a little bit of what the armor was would call it simple protection.

"Have you decided where you plan to go next year?" Harry asked curiously. It was time for him and T'Challa to go to college. They had already applied and shown their grades and had been accepted to all sorts of schools all over the world. Impressive considering, they were two years earlier than most people went to college. T'Challa was thinking of majoring in Mechanical Engineering while Harry was thinking of Medicine. The only questioned remained was where they would be going.

"I think I want to go to America, but I am not so sure about the college yet," T'Challa told him. Harry nodded easily. They still had a little more time to decide after all.

"What about you, still going to follow your big brother around?" T'Challa teased. Harry rolled his eyes.

"I have to. It's my royal duty to keep you out of trouble. And you should consider yourself lucky. In a few more years Shuri will have caught up to us and will be babysitting you instead of me." Harry told him. They both laughed at that. It had become clear that Shuri had a genius-level intellect as evidenced by the fact that she already understood Algebra at the age of five.

"That she would..." T'Challa said as he trailed off still gazing longingly at the armor before turning away. Harry knew what he was thinking, T'Chaka had already announced that T'Challa would begin the process of taking over the duties of the Black Panther once he returned from schooling. Harry, in turn, would have to decide what he wished to do to help the kingdom. He was thinking of becoming a spy, but when he mentioned it to his father, he had become very tense.

Harry hadn't thought of it but remembered that the Kings brother was a spy and he had apparently betrayed Wakanda during his time as one. He doubted T'Chaka thought he would follow in the man's footsteps, but it was still an uncomfortable parallel for the man. T'Challa had liked the idea and told him that he thought he would make a great spy with his abilities and Harry agreed with him. T'Chaka had shown him the energy readings that came out whenever he used magic and he had an idea of hiding it, but he thought it might be impossible even for him. He would have to look into it more.

"I was thinking of Harvard," T'Challa told him. Harry rose his eyebrow at the change of the subject.

"Any particular reason for the sudden decision?" Harry asked. He shrugged.

"Just seemed the appropriate choice, I suppose," T'Challa told him. Harry eyed him suspiciously, but finding no ulterior motive, at least not in his expression, he nodded in agreement.

"Harvard it is then. When would you like to tell our parents?" Harry asked.

"Soon, maybe tonight. Before then, I would like a spar." T'Challa said. Harry immediately frowned.

"I would rather not." He said back. T'Challa smiled.

"Not a normal one. I want you to use magic against me." T'Challa told him. Harry's frown deepened.

"I would REALLY rather not then."

"Come on. What if I run into someone else who can use magic. You yourself said it was a possibility. This will be good in learning how to defend myself against such abilities." Harry thought of the argument for a moment. To be fair, it was a good one. Harry had once felt distance shifts on this planet, and they happened often enough that they could certainly be magic or magic users in particular. He did not know if they were hostile, but if they were and they had even close to the same abilities as he did, even Wakanda's many advances wouldn't be able to protect them.

"What you say… has some merit." Harry admitted reluctantly.

"Good. We're already in a training room so let's use fathers. I am sure he won't mind." T'Challa said as he entered the private training area his father used that stood next to the private armory of the King. Harry followed as he too believed their father would not have a problem with it.

"Can you fend me off with just magic or will you also need to combat me in close range?" T'Challa asked, taking off his shirt to reveal a tank top underneath. Harry removed his own shirt but he did not have anything underneath so he was pretty much half-naked.

"I will use just magic. If there are magic users of this realm, then they will most likely only attack you from a range unless they have been specifically trained otherwise. So, we will start with that." Harry told him. T'Challa nodded as he gained a stance.

Harry took his own and could immediately see the difference within the styles they were about to use. T'Challa looked coiled tight like a panther ready to strike. Harry, on the other hand, stood tall and squarely on both his feet in a more defensive stance. They stared at each other waiting for the other to make a move first. After a solid minute of this, Harry decided to attack first, after all, he was supposed to be teaching T'Challa.

Harry raised his hand and three glowing orbs materialized around his hand before launching themselves at high speeds towards T'Challa. Despite his surprise at the speed, T'Challa was able to spring into action and started to dodge. He ducked under all three and tucked himself into a roll towards him. Harry casts another spell, this time on the ground itself. A Shockwave like a miniature earthquake raced towards T'Challa forcing him to jump back away from him.

As his brother was recovering. Harry brought his hands to his chest and started to make a circular motion with, both as if he was molding an invisible sphere. In response, an actual bluish-transparent sphere formed in between his hands and looked to be spinning rapidly. He then grabbed it and made an outwards throwing motion with both of his hands that launched the spinning sphere at T'Challa. T'Challa dodged it initially, but as the sphere drew closer, it became clear the spinning it was doing was not for show. It violently pulled the teen from the air and into its center before colliding with the wall and violently exploding.

Harry watched as T'Challa collapsed to the floor and he quickly approached him. He knew he would be alright, he had made sure the collision with the wall as well as the violent explosion of the sphere wasn't too powerful to cause serious damage.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

"I- I am fine. Just had the wind knocked out of me. What was that last move you did?" T'Challa asked.

"Something new I developed. Actually, everything I used was things I only recently developed. The sphere I created after reading on black holes. It acts similarly by pulling nearby items towards it with a force before exploding. In an actual battle, it is potentially much more dangerous because it will also be collecting debris which will injure you as it spins with you. When it explodes, the debris will then act as shrapnel from a grenade. So, you have to then contend with being shoved violently outwards as well as the debris also being exploded violently around you as well." Harry explained to him. T'Challla nodded, showing he was able to understand his explanation.

"I knew magic would be something else but I didn't think you would be able to take me down so quickly. Truly a potentially terrifying ability. You said you also recently developed the other spells, what were they. I know you said you could make a red glowing ball to stun people. Was that what those balls were?" He asked.

"Yes, although they have a little more kick than the ones I have shown you before. They also have the ability to change directions Midflight making them harder to dodge. They still aren't perfect of course. They slow down significantly when changing directions and I can only materialize three at the same time."

"What about the Shockwave?"

"Hmm. It's an ability to throw out a shock wave of force. That's the newest and least complete one of the bunch. The Shockwave seems to only travel over the ground instead of as a full wall and it should go out in every direction, not just one." Harry finished. T'Challa processed what he was saying and frowned.

"So, basically, you beat me with three spells and they weren't even complete," T'Challa said unhappily.

"I suppose, of course, even in their incomplete states, they are much more versatile than a standard spell is. Normal spells I cast all go the same speed and in only one direction. The spells I sent at you don't follow any of those rules, even in their incomplete forms. I used them to show you the dangers of going against magic unprepared." Harry explained. He didn't want T'Challa to just think he was bullying him. He doubted he would. His brother was very bright and he doubted he would think Harry would do something so mean spirited but just to be sure.

"I suppose when you put it like that…" T'Challa seemed more pleased at least.

"I will give you some hints for next time though. One, I think you know it by now, but always be on the move. A moving target is a harder target. Two, always try to press forward even when you have to move away from an attack. Strafe diagonally or sidestep if possible, but always try to get close. Long-range fighters start to panic once you get to close and that means more chance for them to make a mistake. Three, you never know what will be thrown out so prepare for everything." Harry told him.

In truth, he was pretty sure that T'Challa could probably take on most wizards with his natural speed and strength. He could slide past spells like they were nothing. The only thing that would be able to slow him down or stop him would be a spell that had an area of effect rather just at one point. If he played his cards right though, T'Challa could have them disarmed and down for the count before said user was able to even think of using such a strategy on him.

Of course, if there were other magic users on this planet, he had no idea what magic they used or how they fought. They could be more like battle mages from his world's past that excelled in some sense in most combat situations, even in close quarters. If that were the case then It would be better to retreat and bombard them from a location that was not directly observable by said magic-user.

"I will have to incorporate what you have said into my strategy to defeat you next time," T'Challa said good-naturedly. Harry smiled.

"You can still beat me in normal fighting. I think it says a lot about your skill that I can only beat you now if I can fall back on magic." Harry reassured. T'Challa liked hearing that. Of course, he did. He was very proud of his combat skills.

"And you better not forget it," T'Challa said, wiggling his finger at him like he was a naughty child. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Come, let us go back so I can heal those bruises before dinner tonight. I would hate to have to get an earful from mother about fighting on the one day she told us we were forbidden to do so."

"Ahhh. She worries too much. We are not children anymore." T'Challa pointed out in a loving annoyance. Harry snorted as they both put back on their shirts.

"Do not let your abilities go to your head brother. We may have the skills but we lack the experience that separates from true adulthood. We are still a few years out from taking the trials, and you should enjoy them." Harry said as they go into an elevator to get to the main floors of the tower.

"You sound more and more like father every day," T'Challa complained.

"Good, it's going to be my job to enforce what the King says one day. Might as well get used to sounding like him."

"Hmph."

They arrived at T'Challa's floor first where most of the main family stayed. They got off there and made their way over to T'Challa's room. His was a little more colorful than Harry's own. He had various posters and paintings on the wall with a few decorations here and there. T'Challa sat down on his bed and removed his shirt before allowing Harry to hover his hands, which were now covered in a warm glowing gold light, to hover over his wounds.

"Is healing hard?" T'Challa asked curiously. Harry shrugged.

"No more than any other branch. The simpler things like healing cuts and bruises aren't. Obviously the more complex you go, the harder it gets. Mind healing is most likely the hardest if I had to guess." Harry told him.

"I would imagine."

"Hopefully, my studies in college will help further my magical ability," Harry told him.

"So you want to be a healer?"

"In a sense. Healing would be nice. Less ethical questions involved." Harry told him.

A few moments later and Harry finished his word on T'Challa and had him redress.

"I will see you at dinner where I assume, you will be telling our parents about your choice?" Harry questioned.

"Of course. I shall see you then."

Harry bid his goodbyes and left the room. A few minutes later and he was back on the floor with his own room. He remembered when he had first been adopted, they had offered to move him onto the family floor, but Harry had chosen to remain in the room he already had. For one, it allowed him a certain amount of privacy that he enjoyed. For another, it allowed him to stay close to Nala. She would have to stay on this floor if he went up to a new one.

Speaking of Nala. It had become noticeable that his giant panther was also not aging. The King had told him it was a mutation within the panther that had made it bigger and also gave it an extended life. His people accepted it and some even thought Nala was an avatar for the goddess Bast herself. Harry thought it was a little amusing, but said nothing. Nala thought it was appropriate that everyone had such a high opinion of her and thought she was a goddess in panther form. Harry thought it went to her head a little, but let his familiar have her moment.

Nowadays, Nala went out by herself and often hung around in the nearby jungles. It didn't look like she was hunting anything, it seemed more like she was more comfortable there than in the city. Harry hadn't minded too much. She was never too far and he could still feel her through their familiar bond. He had been thinking about how he would take her with him to America. He would most likely have to shrink her, which he could do, he knew the exact array that could shrink her. The trouble would be in getting her to wear a collar and not just any collar. A collar that would shrink her to the size of a Housecat. She didn't like the idea.

Harry put his thoughts away from Nala as he decided to do some more training before dinner tonight where their choices would be announced for college.

 _Later That Night_

Harry sat at a table and ate with his family while they made idle conversation. The conversation being the one thing hated talking about most.

"I just think that while you are there, it wouldn't kill you to meet a nice girl is all. You are certainly handsome enough. Any girl would be lucky to have you." Ramonda pressed.

"Mother…" Harry said with exasperation.

"I happen to agree with your mother on this. We have been very patient hoping you would come out of your shell on your own terms, and there have been plenty of opportunities. Whatever happened to that nice girl from the merchant tribe?" T'Chaka asked him pointedly.

Harry remembered a girl who, a couple of years ago, had tried to befriend him. She was nice enough, but she saw him more like a Prince than as a person. So, he had decided to politely cut that off, which wasn't hard considering they had not known each other long.

"She… was not my type." Harry tried.

"No one seems to be your type." T'Challa seemed to say out loud without realizing it. Harry glared at his brother who looked at him apologetically.

"Are you perhaps, planning to marry someone outside of Wakanda, my son?" T'Chaka asked curiously. Harry frowned.

"I am not planning marriage at all. Not to say I am opposed to marriage, but it is not something I think about. I am sure it will happen naturally if at all." Harry told them.

"So, I'm supposed to just give up on grandchildren from you?" Ramonda didn't seem pleased.

"Mother…" Harry said in exasperation. T'Challa and T'Chaka were laughing and Shuri was just scrunching up her face in disgust.

"I am just saying. When you go to college will you at least try to find someone? Of course, it doesn't have to be a girl Hadrian. We haven't talked about it, but you know I would accept you no matter who you enjoyed spending time with." Ramonda hinted heavily.

"Oh, I didn't think about that. Are you homosexual Hadrian?" T'Challa asked curiously. Harry just puts down his fork and stared at them.

"Really?"

"It is not a bad question, I certainly haven't seen you show any interest in the opposite sex before and it IS getting to the point where I don't actually believe you have any. It would certainly not be a leap then to assume you would enjoy the company of other gentlemen." T'Chaka pointed out with a shine in his eye.

"I hate you all," Harry said as he went back down to eat his food.

"You did not answer the question," T'Challa observed unhelpfully once again.

"If I shove this dining utensil in your sternum, would you take that as an answer?" Harry asked back.

"I just want you to know we will all love you no matter what."

"I AM NOT GAY!" Harry yelled, finally.

"Well… I suppose we will just have to continue to wait and see." Ramonda said in disappointment. Both his brother and father nodded their heads in agreement, showing that they all didn't quite believe his words.

"You are all ridiculous." Harry grounded out. Shuri giggled and patted him on the arm.

"I believe you, Brother." She said happily. Harry looked her and smiled.

"Thank you, Shuri, that's why you are my favorite," Harry told her. Shuri seemed pleased with the knowledge as she dug back into her meal. They continued to eat and moved on to less stressful topics until they were near the end. Then T'Challa decided it was time to finally make his announcement.

"I have an announcement," T'Challa said, getting the attention of everyone at the table. Their parents looked at him expectantly while Shuri looked at him curiously.

"Harry and I have decided to go to school in America, more specifically, Harvard University," T'Challa said with a smile.

"Oh, that's wonderful," Ramonda exclaimed happily.

'Very good, my sons. I have heard many good things and I am sure you will enjoy yourselves." T'Chaka congratulated.

"Wait does that mean you're leaving," Shuri asked, confused. Harry looked at her for a moment, trying to decide how to word this.

"Yes, when we leave to America, we will be staying there while we complete our education," Harry told her.

"But what about me?" She asked, starting to get upset.

"Well, you will still be able to see us. We can communicate with each still but you will have to wait until vacations for us to come back to see you." Harry told her. That seemed to displease her even more.

"I don't want you to go," Shuri whined. Harry sighed. This was going to be a problem.

"We have to go to continue our education. It is important for our future." Harry told her.

"Shuri, be happy for your brothers, this is something that's very important to them. One day you will have to go to college yourself." Ramonda told her. Shuri seemed to perk up.

"Can I go now?" She asked.

"No sweetling. You have to finish your other education lessons first." Ramonda told her.

"Then can I go?" Shuri pressed. Ramonda pursed her lips in thought.

"I suppose." She replied.

"YAY! Okay. I will finish it all very fast and then come to college with you." Shuri told him excitedly. Harry looked at her and smiled.

"Okay, if you finish your other stuff. Then you can join us." Harry told her. Shuri seemed pacified by this knowledge and they went back to their celebration. Several others came to congratulate them as well, including Amuya.

"By the time you come back, there will probably be a new general in my place," Amuya told him as the family mingled with various people. Harry looked at her surprised. Amuya did not seem that old to him. Maybe forty perhaps. It wasn't unheard of for a general to stay on for quite a while. Dura Milaje usually kept themselves in very good shape and could handle their duties for quite a while.

"Truly? Why so soon?" Harry asked her a little taken aback. She smiled at him.

"It is not so soon. I am already fifty years old now." She revealed. That did shock Harry as he did a double-take and looked closer at her to try and find some type of indicator of her true age.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked insistently. She laughed at that.

"I am glad you have such a hard time believing so, but trust me, my Prince, I am not what I use to be and soon it will be time for me to retire and let someone younger take on the mantle," Amuya told him. Harry looked at her but nodded in acceptance.

" _Well, I think I speak for my whole family when I say that we will miss you,"_ Harry told her switching seamlessly to his second language.

" _And I you."_ Amuya respond

"Have you thought of your replacement yet?" Harry asked.

"I was thinking Okoye would make a good fit." She admitted.

"Is she not a little… young?" Harry asked. Indeed, Okoye was young. She was only a few years older than them after all.

"She is, but she is also very talented as well as intelligent. She already has a good relationship with her future king." Amuya pointed out. Harry nodded at her points.

"All true, I suppose. Still, has she done any missions yet? Nothing beats real experience."

"She has completed two so far and will certainly complete more. She achieved high-efficiency scores for both missions and I am sure she will continue to do so to the best of her ability.

"You are probably right."

They didn't talk long after as Amuya wished to also go talk to the rest of the family and Harry was ready to head to bed himself. He bid his parents and siblings goodnight and left for his room. Once there, he shed his clothes and sunk into his bed before letting sleep take him.


	10. Chapter 10

_Year 2000_

"You wanted to see me father?"

Harry stood in the throne room where his father held council with the other tribe leaders as his father looked out the window over the Capital. Harry immediately noticed a few things about the room. For one thing, there was absolutely no one else in the room with them. Usually there were at least a few guards that remained with his father at all times. The only exceptions were when they talked of his magic in private. The next thing he noticed was the demeanor of his father. He was stiff as a board and had his hands clasped together behind his back. It was likely that the conversation they were about to have would be a serious one.

T'Chaka turned to look at him and tried to give him a reassuring smile. It, unfortunately, looked much too serious for it to be considered reassuring.

"Ah, hello Hadrian. Thank you for coming to see me. I know you are busy packing still." T'Chaka said to him. Harry nodded, but said nothing further as he eyed the man. His father moved over from the window and came back to his throne. He sat down on the impressive chair and gestured for Harry to sit in the seat across from him, where the General of the Dura Milaje sat. Harry took the seat silently as he looked at his father to continue.

"I had a few questions to start with. I know I don't usually talk about your… gifts, but I wished to ask you a few questions if that's okay." T'Chaka said, looking at him. Harry nodded.

"Of course, father."

"First, your magic… can it give you the ability to influence the mind of anyone?" He asked him. Harry frowned for a moment, but nodded reluctantly.

"It does. I can compel someone to do something or even attempt to fully take over their minds. The stronger the will the harder it is to do the last one though. If I concentrate, I can listen into thoughts, and if I do a full out attack, I can delve into memories, or at least, I think I can." Harry admitted to waiting to see his adopted father's reaction to his words. T'Chaka looked thoughtful at what he said before nodding.

"Are your goals after you finish your education still the same?" He asked. He was referencing the fact of Harry, wishing to become a spy after finishing his education.

"They are."

"I have a task for you, though I will not force it on you and if you do not believe you can handle it, then I wish for you not to push yourself into taking it. Are we clear?" He asked. Harry nodded.

"Good. Do you remember what I asked you not to speak of when those men broke into my office?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Do you remember what I told you what I did?"

"I do."

"The boy. In recent years, I have made some inquiries into him. He has just graduated from a Naval School in Maryland and is now in MIT. I want you to try and assess the boy discreetly and do what you feel is best." T'Chaka told him.

"Do what I think is best?" Harry asked in confusion. T'Chaka stood and started pacing back in forth in front of him.

"When I originally made the decision to leave the boy, I was confident that, while it wasn't pleasant, it was the right decision for Wakanda. Now, though, I am not so sure. Ever since that night since I have told you, it has been on my mind and I have been wracked with indecision. I find myself questioning the decision ever since we spoke." T'Chaka admitted. Harry listened patiently as his father talked.

"I want, no, I need someone else to look at this situation and help me with it. This is a task I could only trust to a rare few and of those, even fewer know of the situation. Then, of course, there's the matter of knowledge the boy may have. I have no idea if he knows of his origins and if he does, what his attitude may be towards Wakanda. If he knows about us then I need to send someone who he would not expect."

"You want me to spy on him because I am white and he would never suspect me to be a spy for Wakanda?"

"That is only part of it. The decision on what to possibly do with the boy is extremely delicate. I need someone who understands what it means to be compassionate, but also the need to do certain things for the good of others even if said thing is distasteful. You have proved in the years that I have known you to be someone who understands how to maintain this balance." T'Chaka told him as he stopped pacing and stared down at him. Harry looked back at him in silence.

"… I have a few questions before I agree or not."

"Of course."

"First, will I be able to access any information we have on the boy, or man I guess?" Harry asked.

"I would have a complete dossier sent to you before you left tomorrow."

"Hmm. Alright, second, I assume you will wish me to keep this a secret from my brother?" Harry asked.

"I would very much appreciate you doing so unless absolutely impossible to do so." T'Chaka admitted with a slight wince. It was clear to Harry that he did not want to tarnish his image with T'Challa. Harry could understand and respect that so he could appease to the wish.

"Finally, the decisions on what to do with the boy based on what I find on him, how much say will I have on this?" Harry asked.

"What happens to him will be your own decision completely. I will expect updates on what you are doing and your progress. I may have some questions, but I will give deciding power completely over to you." T'Chaka told him. Harry sat back in his chair as he thought deeply on this.

This was a lot of power and responsibility the King was giving him. It was literally him giving him the power over a decision that usually fell to him and him alone. It showed the amount of faith the King was placing with him. But Harry suspected that deep down the King simply did not wish to condemn his nephew a second time and wished to take the burden off of his shoulders. He had spun it in his mind that he was doing what was best, but Harry suspected he was simply trying to run from it. Not that he minded, of course. Such a thing provided him with several future opportunities.

"Are you sure you wish for me to do this Father? I am only sixteen, I am still years from even passing the trials into adulthood. I appreciate the trust you place in me, but I am not so sure if it is warranted." Harry admitted. T'Chaka smiled genuinely for the first time during this whole talk.

"Hadrian, you are many things, but we both know you are far from being a child and in truth, I am not sure you have ever been. You have always spoken with a confident tone and your thought processes rival that of any thoughtful adult I have ever met. Not only that, but you are my son. There are few that I could trust more. I would not suggest this to you if I did not believe you could handle it."

"I… thank you for your thoughts on my capabilities." Harry said back with gratitude.

"Of course. I do not mean to rush you on such a big decision, but unfortunately I have to since you are leaving tomorrow."

"I… accept your assignment, my King." Harry said to him. T'Chaka smiled at him and kneeled down so they were eye to eye.

"Thank you, my son." He said to him before reaching out and wrapping Harry into an embrace.

 _The Next Day_

Harry stood at the only 'public airport' in all of Wakanda. On it was a private jet that was much more mainstream and much less conspicuous than any other that Wakanda had. He and T'Challa couldn't exactly go to America in the _Royal Talon_ craft that the royal family usually took.

"Well. This is it." T'Chaka said as he looked at both of them with pride showing in his eyes. Ramonda had an expression that mirrored her husbands while Shuri looked like she wanted to cry. T'Challa reached out and moved to hug his father. Harry stood behind him and waited for him to go down the line. Once he moved on to their mother, Harry stepped forward and hugged his adopted father.

"Thank you for everything, my son." He whispered to him.

"I should be saying that to you. I will miss you father. I hope to see you soon." Harry said as he then moved to his mother. She was holding up a tough façade but Harry could see some water building up in her eyes. Harry moved in and embraced her.

"It will not be long till I see you again mother. Do not worry about us. I will keep T'Challa out of trouble." Harry said to her teasingly. He heard a 'hey' come from his brother and a chuckle come from his mother.

"I am more worried about you. T'Challa will have no problem ingraining himself with others. You on the other hand…"

"I shall be fine. I promise." Harry told her.

"I believe you, but promise me one thing?" She asked.

"Of course, what is it?"

"Promise you will at least try and find someone for a relationship. Girl or boy."

Harry just stared hard at his mother as she looked back at him seriously. Both his father and brother were laughing once more, but this time at him.

"Yes, mother." He said blandly. She nodded and hugged him again.

"That's my boy." She said as she patted him on the back and released him. Harry moved over to Shuri and picked her up.

"I think I will miss you most sister." Harry told her as he hugged her. She wrapped her small arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

"I don't want you to leave." She told him. Harry sighed.

"I know. But this is necessary for us to continue our education." Harry told her.

"I don't care."

"I know. But I am trusting you to look after Nala while I am away. Do you think you can do that for me? It's a pretty big responsibility. She doesn't just let anyone play with her you know. Do you think you will be able to do it?" He asked. She wiped her eyes but nodded, He smiled down at her.

"Good." He said and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, "We will see each other soon enough dear sister."

With the goodbyes over with, Harry and T'Challa boarded the flight and chose seats near the back of the plane.

" _Is it wrong to feel a little nervous right now?"_ T'Challa asked him as he looked out the window and waved goodbye to their family.

" _Not at all. This will be the first time we are away from our family for any real amount of time. It's a couple years before most leave their families as well. In truth, I feel a little nervous myself."_ Harry told him as he poured himself a coke from the mini fridge on the plane.

" _You are right, of course."_ T'Challa said as the plane started moving forward and picking up speed rapidly. Harry poured another glass of coke and slid it to his brother. T'Challa picked it up.

" _To the next chapter of our lives."_ Harry said as a choice. T'Challa smiled and the clinked their drinks together before downing them.

 _Several Weeks Later_

He and T'Challa had been in America for several weeks now and it was going well. They had both started their classes and were working hard to keep up. In truth, the classes were not quite that hard yet. They instead were doing a couple more classes than the average, so they could graduate as early as possible. The work volume was the only true difficult part.

They had decided beforehand to not stay on campus, but rent a home very close to the campus instead. This allowed them some privacy when they wished to talk about matters on their home. Along with that, their father had leased two cars for them both to use while they were here. T'Challa had a shiny, black corvette while Harry had a silver Porsche 911. Harry thought it was a little much but he was grateful nonetheless. In truth, he could probably afford to buy his own car considering how much money he had made from stocks over the years. Actually, he could probably afford to buy a decent house along with a car.

T'Challa loved his car though. He had already almost gotten in trouble for speeding and Harry had to tell him off for letting himself get in trouble so soon after they got here.

Another issue was interacting with their fellow classmates. They were too young to be invited to parties which was fine with Harry but seemed to upset T'Challa. It also seemed to make some of their classmates weary of interacting with them. So, they mainly just interacted with each other. It was nice enough for Harry since he was used to being without peers for the most part. T'Challa was having a harder time with it. He contacted a multitude of his friends back home almost on a daily basis.

Harry watched him continue to pine after poor Nakia who clearly didn't know what to do about a prince after her affections. Of course, as far as Wakandan politics went, Nakia was considered a progressive and very liberal. She had deep compassion within her and wished for Wakandan policies to reflect that. She was also very aware of her influence over T'Challa and wouldn't use it to her advantage. It was something he respected deeply about the girl

"You finish talking with my sister-in-law again?" Harry teased. T'Challa pushed him playfully before they sat on the couch together.

"You better watch out before I tell mother how many girls you've talked to so far." Harry looked confused at the statement.

"I haven't talked to any outside of class though."

"Exactly!" T'Challa exclaimed. Harry smiled in realization before kicking his brother in the leg.

"You know pursuing with us for anyone on campus would be illegal here correct? We are under age."

"What a convenient excuse. It'll only buy you another two years, you know. I wonder what you'll change to then."

"I'll be too busy focusing on my studies and getting started on my PH.D." Harry said.

"You already have it ready?" T'Challa exclaimed.

"Of course, I am not an amateur." Harry said back. He remembered back to when he was Harry Potter in the Wizarding World. He had only dated a few girls back then too, and only for a few months at a time. It wasn't that he didn't find women attractive, but he knew what he was looking for in a partner and wasn't interested in flings.

"Mother won't be happy to hear so. I'm betting even Father will try and do something if you don't change soon enough." Harry just waved it off.

"Bah. I'm not the crown prince. It's not that big of a deal." Harry told him. T'Challa frowned.

"What do you mean? Even if you're not the crown prince, if something happens to me…"

"Then the crown would go to Shuri."

"And if something happened to her then it would go to you." T'Challa insisted.

"I… don't believe so."

"Oh? Then who would it go to then? My Uncle is gone and presumed dead. That leaves only you if something happens to the blood family. The tribes will agree if only because my father felt strongly enough to adopt you." T'Challa told him.

"T'Challa, when adopted I was told that neither myself or my children would be able to inherit. It was to make sure that I would never try to steal your birth right. It is something I agreed with then and I agree with now." Harry told him.

"Then it will change when I am King." T'Challa said with conviction. Harry frowned sadly at his brother.

"T'Challa…"

"I trust you with my life and trust you more than I trust anyone, maybe even myself. I know you would never try and usurp me. And if, Bast forbid, anything happened to me as King, I would want to leave my home in the most capable hands I could think of."

"You are too kind, but I would keep Wakanda safe no matter what. I would not ask this of you."

"You do not need to. I ask you to not inform my father of these plans either to try and avoid it." T'Challa said, giving him a pointed look. Harry grimaced as that was his first thought.

"...Very well. On the condition that you think of this decision more before you decide to do so. Hopefully your father shall be around for a lot longer so you should have plenty of time." Harry said to him with a pointed look. T'Challa just gave him a shrug. Harry sighed before deciding to move on.

"Let's talk about happier things, shall we?" Harry suggested.

"Fine. Have you been keeping up with your training? I have noticed you have not joined me on my morning runs." T'Challa asked him. Harry groaned.

"I said happier."

"Your fitness is an important part of your health. You need to make sure you maintain it properly." T'Challa advised.

"Do I look fat to you?"

"Not being fat and being in shape are two very different things. It does look like you're losing some muscle mass since we got here." T"Challa pointed out. Harry groaned. He had been skating around working out since he got here, although he did have legitimate reasons to do so. He had been getting used to his new living arrangements as well as putting several protections around their home. He had noticed strange men that had seemed to watch them in their daily lives on occasion. He wouldn't have noticed had he not been under such surveillance before.

"For your information I have been busy securing our home from possible intruders." T'Challa frowned at that.

"You still see these men who you believe are watching us?"

"Not believe, I know they are watching us, I just don't yet know why." Harry replied.

"What could they hope to gain?"

"Possibly to see if we slip up about our country's most valued good I'd assume." Harry speculated. T'Challa frowned.

"I thought Baba had convinced the U.N that it had all been taken?"

"Convinced them enough to back off through legitimate channels maybe. There are still some who would wish to get mining contracts in our country to try and find more and others who believe we were possibly lying."

"And you believe that's what these men are after?"

"It's just a theory. It could have nothing to do with it. Plus, they seem content to watch us rather than listen in on our conversations. So, I could be wrong about all of this."

"Why would they wish to watch us then?"

"Hmm. I couldn't say. Possibly to learn our schedule for future planning?"

"Should we inform Father?"

"If you wish. Although, if these men work with the government, and become aware we have noticed them, it could lead to them watching us with much more caution. It may inadvertently show off skills that they did not know we had, possibly making them more suspicious of us."

"Good point. Maybe we just approach this with a wait and see attitude."

"I believe that would be best." Harry replied.

After that, they drifted in a comfortable silence for a few moments before Harry easily stood up.

"I have to go. I have an appointment with one of my professors and then I have to meet up with one of my class groups."

"Oh? Which class?"

"Physics. I'll be gone for a few hours so don't wait up." Harry said to him before grabbing the backpack he had left on the floor when he had originally gotten home from his classes and slung it on his shoulder.

"Ah. Well, I shall see you when you return. I think I might go and rent a few movies while you're away."

"Enjoy. I shall see you later.

"Goodbye." Harry stepped out into the garage and walked over to his car. He popped it open before throwing the book bag carelessly into the seat next to his and sliding into the driver side. He quickly inserted the key and twisted to hear a satisfying purr come from the engine. With that, he opened the garage door and left the house he was staying it before hitting the open highway.

Harry felt a little guilty as he drove away from the house he shared with his brother. He wasn't actually going back to the college to meet with a professor or his physics group. Instead, he was about to go and finally start the task assigned by their father. It was time to go and see his cousin.

Harry didn't have to drive long. MIT was rather close to Harvard as he had found out with some shock. It was only about ten minutes away. It baffled him a little to be honest. Why would you need two Universities so close together if they were both top of the line? It also worried him that their cousin lived down the street. Of course, he had never met them before and likely didn't even know their names but still.

He pulled into a visitor parking lot and parked his car before opening his black bag and pulled out a manila folder. He had of course placed tons of charms on it to make sure it stayed completely hidden from the eyes of anyone but himself.

He opened the folder and saw a picture of a young black man glaring back at him. The photo was recent and most likely taken at the Annapolis naval academy he had attended judging by the uniform he was wearing. He moved the picture and looked at the information he was already familiar with at this point.

Erik Stevens, had grown up being bounced between foster cares since the death of his father. Everywhere he went he seemed to cause trouble and get into fights. He had narrowly avoided Juve before shaping up enough to get into Annapolis. His grades were amazing to say the least, he was consistently top of the class in everything he took. His physical results also seemed to be off the charts which Harry figured meant he was probably as gifted in combat as T'Challa if not as trained. He hadn't found any information on fighting styles he used, though it would have been weird if they had.

Everything about his life before the death of his father was murky to say the least. He had seemed a happy enough boy if not a little cynical due to being chiefly raised by his father. No information was given about his mother except that he likely had her last name. Harry would make sure to investigate into that at a later point.

He spent several more moments looking through all the information before putting it back in the folder and into his backpack. He then stepped out of the car and made his way onto the campus. He had already found out his cousin's schedule by breaking into the admissions office the week before and had made sure to familiarize himself enough with the layout of the school to find the classroom.

He looked at a watch he was wearing and saw that it was five minutes until his cousin's class ended. He moved over to the correct building and cast a simple compulsion on himself so that no one would pay too much attention to him. They'd be able to see him, but they wouldn't be able to concentrate on him. He leaned up against a light pole on one of the larger walkways and waited.

He was right about the class schedule it seemed as right on time, several people started streaming out of the building. Harry watched every face that exited the door until one finally caught his eye. Erik had finally stepped out of the building and started walking towards away with a book bag slung over one shoulder.

He cut an intimidating figure to be sure. He wears jeans and a simple black, zip-up, jacket with another black shirt under it that had some random design he didn't recognize on it. His face seemed to be set in a permanent, slight scowl that warned others to tread carefully around him. The clear muscle mass he had seemed to only drill the last point home.

He didn't look too much like T'Challa but they had some similarities in the way they held themselves. T'Challa was collected and polite but had a clear command to him when he moved or entered a room that told you not to mess with him. Erik was similar, though it was less of a command and more of a warning. He held himself with his head held high and a confidence that suggested he thought himself better than those around him. T'Challa was like a panther, calm and patient, but ready for action at a moment's notice. Erik was more like a tiger, menacing and powerful and ready to strike you down at all times.

He moved from the pole and started following Erik. He knew he had on campus housing somewhere, but had not found out where it was yet. As he followed, he saw his thoughts confirmed when he watched other students making a path for him and making sure not to accidentally bump into him. Harry walked easily enough after him and managed to avoid colliding with anyone.

They eventually got to the dorms and Erik entered what was presumably his. Right before he entered though, Harry dropped his spell protecting him from onlookers and easily approached the boy. He was down the hall from Erik as he approached, but as soon as he became visible, Erik turned his head and zeroed in on him with his eyes. Harry made no change in movement or expression as his cousin did so, he maintained the bored look as he continued walking forward.

His calm movements hid his true actions as, as soon as they made eye contact, Harry dove into his mind. He was immediately hit with several emotions as he entered his cousin's mind. A deep undercurrent of anger seemed to taint everything, which bothered Harry. There was also a clear stubbornness to him. Along with it all though was a surprising amount of intelligence. He realized it shouldn't have been a surprise, of course, the man was at MIT and consistently got top grades in all his classes.

Once getting over the general feelings, Harry looked for specific ones, anything to do with Wakanda or his family. He held a deep sadness from the death of both his parents. Apparently, his mother had died in prison after being wrongfully convicted. He also seemed to hold a deep desire for revenge against Wakanda. Harry digested that for a moment before continuing on that.

He was actually surprised about what he saw. While the boy was angry with Wakanda and wanted revenge, he actually wanted to force it in a situation where it would have to help its fellow African descendants all over the world. Although, there was a clear undercurrent of racism within his thoughts as he seemed to either harbor a dislike for white people if not an outright hatred. Judging from what he had seen in his childhood and the rest of his eyes along with his cynical nature, it wasn't exactly surprising why though. Even as he was currently looking at Harry, he felt a disdain towards him. It made Harry a little disappointed if he was honest.

Having gathered what he wished to see, Harry broke eye contact and exited his cousin's mind. A fraction of a second was all the time that had passed in the world around them as he had snooped. He continued walking forward and Erik, judging him to be no threat clearly, entered his dorm and closed the door behind him. Harry walked past the room and didn't even give it a sideways glance as he kept moving and made his way to the end of the hall. He opened the door leading towards outside and made his way back to his car.

He was a little conflicted to be honest. Erik was a complicated individual, he wanted revenge for the justices he had experienced in his life, which was normal, but he seemed to want to take over the world. He wanted others to feel the same pain he did, but also wanted to empower his fellow Black brothers and sisters. He also seemed willing to make any sacrifice necessary to do so. He seemed to see things in a twisted 'Greater Good' mentality that caused Harry to pause.

Still, as crazy as it may sound, even to him, Harry believed there was hope for the young man. For all he was, Erik was controlled and deeply intelligent. He could perhaps be led into a different path, but to do so came its own risk. For one, if Erik realized he was being led, he may fall deeper into the path he was already in. Two, as far as Erik was concerned, he wasn't being irrational in any way. Extreme by most people's standards, maybe, but not irrational. In a sense, Wakanda had betrayed him and turned its back on him. He was right to feel some amount of anger at that.

Should he decide to try and change Erik, he knew that the ball would be in his court to establish the trust. He knew what his father would probably think. He would sadly write his nephew off as a lost cause and make some effort to contain him, and if all else failed, eliminate him for the good of Wakanda. He wouldn't want to but he would if he felt like he had too. However, the decision was up to Harry, and it was one he could not make lightly.

He released a sigh as he stepped into his car and headed back to his home for the day, satisfied with his observations.


	11. Chapter 11

_6 Months Later_

Harry was just finishing an essay when T'Challa walked in with a wooden spear. He tossed the spear at him and Harry caught it easily. He raised an eyebrow at his adopted brother in questioning.

"We need to have a sparring match." T'Challa said seriously. Harry frowned in confusion. Harry recognized his tone of voice to mean that he intended to use the spar as a way of venting or having an argument. He thought over what had happened recently that may have upset his brother.

"I am drawing a blank brother. What is the issue?" Harry asked.

"You'll find out in the ring." T'Challa said back easily. Harry grunted in slight annoyance, but got up and followed T'Challa down to the basement where they had set up a makeshift sparring ring. T'Challa walked to the opposite side of the room and turned towards him before taking up a position with the staff.

Harry looked at him for a moment before twirling the staff experimentally before gripping it with both hands as he pointed it slightly at his brother. It was completely silent for a moment before T'Challa's eyes narrowed and he moved forward and brought the staff down. Harry quickly intercepted causing the two to clash in air before T'Challa brought it back again lower with Harry matching his movements to block the strike again.

T'Challa adjusted his grip lower to hold the staff in a much more swords like grip where Harry quickly adjusted his hands in a much wider hold. As T'Challa came down with the strike, Harry met him and watched the staff clash his right in the middle before T'Challa backed up.

"You have been hiding something from me." T'Challa finally said as he backed up for a moment.

"Have I?" Harry said before, they rushed each other once more. They came at each other with opposite side swipes that clashed. T'Challa then shifted his grip and attacked him with the opposite end forcing Harry to spin the staff momentarily to catch the tip of T'Challa's before it hit him. He pushed his brother back for a moment before coming at him with another downward strike and shifting into a sword stance once more. T'Challa followed suit to properly defend and managed to parry all three of the consecutive strikes that Harry made against him.

"You… have. You… think… I… do… not… notice… when… you… leave… and… come… back… at… suspicious… times?" T'Challa asked as they continued to trade blows, constantly changing stances and styles to the ones that most benefitted them to try and gain the upper hand while also continuing to trade blows.

Harry frowned at his brothers' words. It was true, he had done that when he went to spy on Erik but he had not known T'Challa was getting suspicious of his movements. He couldn't always go when T'Challa was gone as well because T'Challa did not always tell him his schedule. He had always used one of the classes they did not share as an excuse. Harry did not answer right away as he waited for them to pause once more before answering.

"What are you accusing me of?"

"Accusing? Now you just sound guilty. I accuse you of hiding something, not necessarily doing any wrongdoing. I wish to believe that this is simply you coming out of your shell and finally interacting with out peers, but something tells me it is not. So, what are you hiding then?" T'Challa pushed.

"And if I can't tell you?"

"Then perhaps you can tell me why you cannot tell me. We will not finish this until I get something brother." T'Challa said with a smirk as he widened his feet and got into another stance. Harry took his as well and in a split second, they were back in the spar.

Both of their movement speeds had increased as well as the frequency of using a body part in combat rather than just the staff. Harry jumped away from a kick before lunging closer and spun trying to hit him with his staff. When he missed, he left as well trying to catch him with a spinning roundhouse to which T'Challa barely managed to dodge under.

T'Challa then dropped his staff low and before Harry could respond, T'Challa swiped it upwards through his legs, causing Harry to fall back onto the floor. Before he could even think, he found the staff under his chin and his brother looking down at him in victory.

"Ugh, is that arrogance I see in your eyes. I wonder what father would think hearing that." Harry speculated.

"I think he would be too busy explaining why you are doing secret business for him while we're supposed to be doing classes." T'Challa said darkly. Harry stilled at that as he looked up at T'Challa who continued to meet his gaze steadily.

"You think I am working a mission for our father?" Harry asked.

"I know you are. Knowing you and the way you prioritize things, the chances of you putting something above our education is low. The fact that you have been doing this so diligently as well as the fact that you have been secretly writing reports behind my back tells me its an official matter."

"You saw me doing my secret reports?" Harry asked incredulously.

"You always get really quiet and glance furtively when you do your reports."

''I do?"

"You do. So, explain?"

"I can't tell you." Harry said. T'Challa glared at him.

"Why?" Harry grimaced at the question.

"Okay, look, I am not supposed to say anything about it because the matter is extremely delicate and if you knew about it you would try and get involved and that cannot absolutely not happen." Harry told him.

"It's morally questionable isn't it?" T'Challa asked.

"Yes and no. At the moment it's pretty simple, but it could lead to something messy later. At some point I may bring you in, not for help making a decision, but to help try and avoid certain outcomes. That being said, I don't want you to be involved unless necessary. Do you trust me?" Harry asked.

"You know I do, but you cannot ignore the fact that we are young. We're not even legal adults and you're already doing questionable missions? That seems wrong." T'Challa pointed out.

"I understand what you're saying and to some level I agree. I was assigned to this mission because I was one of the few in a position to accomplish it, not because your father necessarily wanted me on it." Harry explained.

"That seems unlikely."

"It is a… odd position." Harry admitted. T'Challa looked at him for a second.

"You will come to me if you need help, yes?"

"You have my word."

"Then I will leave it alone." T'Challa said, backing down. He finally reached down and helped Harry to his feet.

"Thank you, brother." Harry said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Just don't bite off more than you can chew, as they say." T'Challa said, giving him a smile. Harry gave him a playful push and a smile as they left the sparring arena.

 _2 Months_

Harry sat on the top of a building at MIT under a basic disillusionment charm as he watched Erik talking with a girl. Erik was… smooth. He wasn't exactly friendly, but he had an air of danger around him that seemed to attract others and his sarcasm was amusing to say the least. It kept others around him at the least.

To Harry though, it looked like the boy was just going through the motions. He was just doing what was expected of him so that he could go through without being looked at too carefully. It honestly wasn't healthy. It was also for this reason that Harry finally decided to meet with him.

In a moment, he apparated away and into the dorm that Erik stayed in. The boy never invited anyone into his room so he didn't really have to worry about him coming with someone. He sat on a recliner in the room and gracefully crossed his legs as he waited for Erik to arrive. It took upwards of ten minutes before the man came into the room. He didn't seem to notice him as he turned and closed the door behind him. As he turned back though, his eyes immediately found Harry's own. He watched as every muscle tensed in the man. Harry tilted his head slightly as he looked at him.

"Word of advice. You usually don't want to be at the place you're robbing when the owner of the place gets there."

"Well, that depends. Sometimes you need the owner to reveal where something else, so you wait around to get the information from them. Though that's not why I am here." Harry said back.

"Oh yeah? Well, why don't you tell me what you're doing here kid so I can call your mommy to come pick you up."

"I'm here to meet you. I've been watching you for a while Erik." Harry said to him calmly. Erik didn't seem to like the fact that he knew who he was. With a twitch of his wrist, Erik suddenly had a knife and he threw it at him. Harry didn't even flinch as the knife sailed right next to his head and impaled itself into the recliner, he was sitting in. Harry just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Was that necessary?"

"Was it? You seem to know a lot about me and you're looking really comfortable in my personal space. If I wanted, I could kill you right now and it would just be in self-defense."

"Self-defense against a minor that led to his death. Especially with your chosen career path? You sure you want to do that?"

"I'm thinking it might be worth it."

"Hmm, well, I misread that then." Harry said with some amusement.

"Why don't you just tell me what you're doing here." Erik said. Harry shrugged. He reached up and folded his lip revealing a purple number written on the inside of his lip. As soon as he saw it, a dark look appeared over his eyes.

"Did that answer your question?"

"You've got a lot of balls to be standing in from of me right now." Erik said.

"Believe me, I know. Sadly, there was nothing left to do, so, here I am. I am just here to talk. I know you must have a lot of questions." Harry said.

"Do you even know who the fuck I am?"

"And who is it you think you are?"

"I AM YOU'RE PRINCE!" Erik yelled as he charged at him. Harry stood and watched him approach. As soon as he reached his hand out to him, Harry grabbed it and spun to throw the boy over his shoulder. Erik went sailing over him and slamming into his own walls. It's didn't seem to faze him before he easily got up and glared at him again, this time, sizing him up.

"Again, I would really appreciate it if we calmed down and just talked Erik."

"That's not my name."

"Perhaps not, but you have not yet earned to be called your true name. The name Erik is for the boy who has never seen Wakanda nor cares about its interest. N'Jadaka is the name of the prince who must one day open his eyes to the truth. Until you are N'Jadaka, I will call you Erik." Harry told him coldly. Erik charged at him again, this time, much more carefully. He threw a bunch which Harry easily evaded and returned with his own to the boy's face.

Erik blocked the attack before trying to uppercut Harry. Harry again easily dodged the movement and slammed his foot on top of his enemies, causing Erik to become stunned long enough for Harry to connect a punch to his nose that laid him out on the floor. Harry took a few steps back before giving Erik a dry look.

"Erik." He said in annoyance. Erik glared up at him with hatred. It would have looked less intimidating if he wasn't sprawled out on the floor and bleeding from the nose. Harry sighed.

"Alright. Maybe we will try this again when the feelings aren't so fresh. I'm going to come back again at some point. Have a nice day." Harry said as he walked out of the room. As soon as he closed the door behind him, he apparated.

The next thing he knew, T'Challa was looking at him, startled from their living room couch. There was silence for a moment as Harry realized that T'Challa did not know he could do that.

"Did you just teleport into our living room or were you invisible and simply reappeared?" T'Challa asked.

"I teleported… Don't tell your dad." Harry said. T'Challa just sighed before just waving him off. He smiled, before continuing walking up the stairs.

 _Two Weeks_ _Later_

Harry sat once more in the dorm of Erik as he waited for him to get back from his last class of the day. Harry had actually been impressed this time as it seemed that Erik had actually booby trapped the house. The recliner, for example, had most of its cushion removed and had several knives waiting to stab into whoever sat in it.

There was also makeshift trip wire traps hidden under the mess that Harry imagined he purposefully left on the floor to trick people. He simply vanished most of them while Erik wasn't there and put a cushioning charm on the cushion so It worked as regular.

Again, it didn't take long for Erik to arrive though he noticed him this time as soon as he entered the door. He paused for a moment before continuing into the room silently. He closed and locked the door behind him and then looked at Harry. For a moment, his eyes flickered curiously downwards onto the chair Harry was sitting before meeting his gaze again.

"Are you ready to talk or should I just skip straight to the part where I leave?" Harry asked.

"Let's talk." He said gruffly.

"Great. Why don't you sit down on your bed?" Harry said with a disarming smile. Erik just glowered at him for it.

"So, why don't you ask some questions that I know you have mulling about in that head of yours." Harry said.

"Why?" Erik said, jumping straight in.

"I am not a mind reader Erik. Please be more specific." Harry stated.

"Why did my uncle kill my father? Or did you not know that part?" Erik spat out.

"I did in fact know that, I simply assumed you already knew why. Judging by the chain wrapped around your neck and the hidden files you have hidden under the floorboards." Harry said blandly as possible.

"He was a prince!"

"Which meant he is held to a higher moral standard than the average Wakandan, not a lesser one." Harry pointed out to him. Erik stood up rapidly and started pacing as he clearly did not like what he was hearing from him.

"Did that mean he was not to be judged for his crimes? It gave the King a valid excuse to cut his own brother down in cold blood!?"

"Of course not." Harry said easily.

"Then why!" Erik demanded as he stopped pacing and yelled directly at him.

"When the King first came to your father all those years ago, it was not to kill him, it was too arrest him for his crimes so he could be judged by the council. When confronted, your father became angry at his brother's lack of understanding and empathy to the people suffering in this country. He pulled a weapon on a fellow Wakandan and discharged several rounds, forcing the King to put him down to protect the others." Harry told him calmly. Erik said nothing as he went back to pacing.

Harry let him. He couldn't imagine the pain he was experiencing from having to relive these memories and having to reevaluate the way he saw things not only to be acceptable in his mind but also to keep his justified hatred of the King.

"He left the body there." Erik said finally.

"Indeed, he did."

"Why?"

"Two reasons that boil down to the same reason when it comes down to it. Dishonor. When he found out your father was a possible traitor, the King did not want to believe it. He came to America suddenly and without telling anyone save for a rare few. When he confronted your father and found out it was true, his initial intention was to take him before the council to be judged. Once he was dead though, it complicated things. Though he technically did nothing wrong, it would look bad that he killed his own brother in the circumstances. Your father had already done something dishonorable and then the king did as well. As family, it could be called into question whether the family was the right one to rule Wakanda. With that in mind, the King decided to leave his brother behind and declared him Missing in Action. With that, his brother could be presumed dead after doing his duty and the King would not have others question his family." Harry explained.

"Which is why I was left behind?" Erik asked, looking away.

"Exactly. Had you been brought to Wakanda the story would not work."

"So just like that, huh? I'm not the convenient truth so I get thrown away like trash?"

"Why do you think I am here Erik. How do you think I know so much about you? You think Wakanda simply abandoned you and left you to die? You're smart, is that what you actually think has happened here?" Harry asked.

"Maybe, maybe not. It's still fucked up and not right."

"Agreed. After he left you, the King had you discreetly watched by those who could be trusted. He wanted to make sure you would be okay and if you weren't he would do what he could to fix it. It's also partially the reason why I am here."

"What, so he finally going to bring me back to Wakanda?"

"Absolutely not."

"What?" Erik said, getting mad once more and squaring his shoulders as he approached Harry. Harry raised his hand in a signal to calm down. Erik paused at this.

"I will explain, but not today. You have learned a lot today and I think you need to process and digest that. I am going to leave and come back another time. Probably in two or three days." Harry said as he easily slid out of the chair.

"Wait, hold on, what?"

"Yep, so I will see you soon."

"You can't leave."

"Yeah, I can. Don't make me have to break your nose to do it please. I'd really rather not." Harry said as he sidestepped the man and walked to the door. Erik tried to grab his arm to stop him, but Harry moved to quickly for him and was out the door before he could be stopped. Since the hall was once again empty, he apparated as soon as the door closed behind him. He once more appeared in the living room of his house. This time, his brother was not home to see him return. Not that it mattered, Harry decided to sit on the couch and watch some TV to relax.

He spent a couple of hours watching some show called Seinfeld until T'Challa finally arrived home. T'Challa entered the home and his shoulders were slumped and he looked tired. He took one look at Harry before slumping on the couch next to him.

"Long day?" Harry asked.

"You could say that." T'Challa said. Harry frowned as he heard his tone.

"Something wrong?" Harry asked.

"Not really wrong. _Another girl wished to spend… extracurricular time with me._ " T'Challa said switching to Xhosa.

" _Ahhhh. I see. You're still saving yourself for Nakia are you?"_ Harry asked in a teasing tone. T'Challa frowned and kicked him with his foot.

" _It's not that._ "

" _Is that so? Yeah, you look like a guy that's totally over her. But I wonder, is dear Nakia also waiting for you?"_ Harry asked. T'Challa frowned and glared at him.

" _What's that supposed to mean?"_ He asked.

" _I'm just wondering if she is also putting her life on pause while she waits for you to come home?_ " Harry teased. In truth, it was actually something he was worried about. Nakia was an intelligent and kind girl, but she shouldn't have to wait for his brother to get his act together. T'Challa was a prince and was the most desirable matchup in all of Wakanda. It was also known how much he liked Nakia. Other girls might be willing to wait, but Nakia was much too headstrong to care about who he was and put her life on hold for him.

" _Maybe we should go settle this downstairs._ " T'Challa suggested with a clear glint of malice in his eyes. Harry simply rolled his eyes.

" _You can't solve all your problems with violence you meat-head._ " Harry teased. T'Challa and he continued to go back and forth at each other for a while until T'Challa finally decided he wanted to go take a nap. Harry let him go and he decided he should go up to his room as well. He was planning to start some homework he had been putting off, but as he was about to do that, he heard a noise emitting from his pocket.

He looked down and saw it was his cell phone. It looked like a regular cell phone but it had actually been tinkered with by some engineers in Wakanda to give it a few more features. He looked at the screen and recognized the caller ID, it was his King father.

"Hello." He said into the phone as he answered.

"Hello, Hadrian." His father greeted warmly.

"Father. How is everything?"

"Good, good… Well, not as well as it could be." T'Chaka admitted. Harry's face scrunched in concern.

"What is wrong?" Harry asked.

"We tried to apprehend Klaue yesterday." T'Chaka admitted with only slight reluctance. Harry knew who Klaue was as he was the man T'Chaka had used to fully blame for the attack where several terrorists snuck into Wakanda and stole their Vibranium.

"I take it from your tone, he got away." Harry stated.

"He did. Every time we think we have him, he manages to slip right through our fingers." T'Chaka said with some venom in his tone.

"That is good. If he only manages to slip through our fingers than that means he has most likely just been getting lucky for the most part. We just need to wait for him to slip up once and he will be within our jaws." Harry said to his father.

"You are right, as usual." T'Chaka said after a moment sounding less down than he had originally.

"Indeed. Now, is there any other reason you called me?" Harry asked. He had a feeling he knew the true reason why his father was calling him.

"There is. I actually wished to inquire about your mission." T'Chaka asked lightly.

"Were my reports not sufficient?" Harry asked in an almost teasing fashion.

"No, they were perfect as always but… I wished to get your impression first hand. So, what is the boy like?"

"He… Is complicated. He is fiercely intelligent but also has a raging inferno inside of him. He is more receptive than I expected, but I am sure it will not be such a simple matter. No son wants to believe their father was a bad person. I also believe that he has similar beliefs as his father. Even if I can convince him you did not simply come in and kill his father, he may never come around to our way of thinking. He too believes in the same ideals, his father had, that Wakanda should use its resources to help African descendants all over the world." Harry finished.

"That… will certainly make your mission harder. You know I wish for the success of your mission Hadrian, but I also need to know that if you cannot complete the first objective that you will not have any problem going through with the second." T'Chaka spoke with seriousness. Harry paused for a moment. His father was talking about killing Erik If need be.

"I will, but I am confident I can at least make sure he will not be a threat." Harry said to his father.

"If you think for a moment you cannot…"

"Then I will contact you. Yes, I know the protocol." Harry said to him.

"Good, and Hadrian?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"Of course, father."

 _Several Weeks Later._

Harry was now once more sitting in Eriks dorm at the table next to the small kitchen. On the table were two bags of McDonalds. Erik just looked at him in confusion as he approached.

"I haven't eaten today, so I decided to grab some food before coming. I got you some things as well." Harry said kindly to the man. Erik scowled, but sat down and started rifling through the bag that was in front of him as Harry did the same.

"So, you're back." Erik stated, trying to sound neutral as he eyed Harry.

"So, I am." Harry agreed. He watched as Erik continued to look him over, clearly trying to figure out all his weaknesses. Impressive for someone who still had no formal training.

"I assume you have some more questions?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I got a question. Who the fuck are you?" Erik demanded. Harry had a feeling this was coming.

"Can you elaborate further?"

"You know what I'm talking about. I know for a fact Wakanda hasn't accepted foreigners into its country since its creation. It doesn't even have an embassy. So how does a little white boy like you claim to come from there."

"Ah. Well the circumstances are a little strange. Basically, I woke up in a jungle near Wakanda with no memories about a decade ago. I then found my way into the borders, but was attacked and left dying on the rainforest floor. I passed out from blood loss and when I awoke, I was in a Wakandan hospital." Harry explained.

"You had amnesia?" Erik asked for clarification as he squinted in suspicion at him. He couldn't blame him. Wakanda was secretly the most advanced country in the world and did not accept outsiders. Anyone who knew of its secrets would try to infiltrate it and it sounded like that is what Harry had been doing.

"Indeed, I did. I get some flashes of my life before, but they come and go at almost random." Harry told him. There was no harm in telling him such a thing.

"How convenient." Erik said.

"Not for me." Harry said back blandly.

"So, some little white boy shows up and they just welcome him with open arms?"

"Not exactly. There was a search to find someone related to me when I arrived and nothing came up. After that, it was suggested by a very strong majority to send me to an orphanage at a European nation and wash their hands of me." Harry revealed.

"And?"

"After further discussion the King believed it would be more beneficial to keep me in Wakanda instead, and so, several years later, here I am." Harry explained. Erik listened patiently but it seemed he was getting angrier with his words. This did not cause Harry to stop though. He had a feeling he knew what he was getting so angry about and it was better it was dealt with now instead of later.

"How fucking lucky for you." Erik spat, looking like he wanted to jump over the table and beat Harry to death.

"My words have angered you… You are upset because you think Wakanda would rather take in a white foreigner than its own prince. Am I correct?" Harry asked. Erik glared at him further for a moment before seemingly calming down and shrugging.

"Doesn't matter. I'll make sure to fix all of this when it's my turn in the sun." Erik stated as if it was a fact. Harry smiled at him.

"If you say so." Harry said, showing no concern which caused Erik to glare at him.

"Your face is going to get stuck like that if you continue to do it." Harry pointed out.

"Shut the hell up." Erik said with annoyance. Harry shrugged.

"Any other questions?"

"When can I go to Wakanda?" Erik asked bluntly.

"That depends on you." Harry said.

"The fuck does that mean?" Erik shot back.

"It means that you have expressed similar militant beliefs to your father and we both know the damage he did. Before you can ever see Wakanda, it needs to be decided if you too will be a threat to its safety." Harry told him.

"So, that's why you are here? To evaluate me?" Erik scoffed.

"Something like that." Harry said.

"And if I don't pass your little evaluation."

"I have faith that you will… eventually. But if you don't, then you will not see Wakanda, ever." Harry replied, finishing his sentence with a palpable coldness.

Erik remained silent as his words as he continued to stare at Harry. Harry did not back down from his gaze as he continued to stare back.

"Get the fuck out of my house."

Harry sighed as he stood easily and moved away. This was going to take a long time indeed.


End file.
